The commander of the U.S. military in the Indo-Pacific, Admiral John Aquilino, has highlighted Beijing’s illegal and aggressive behaviour across the region, warning that the disputed Second Thomas Shoal was the “most dangerous flashpoint” in Australia’s area of command.
In a wide-ranging address to the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank, Adm. Aquilino covered many of the issues the United States notes to be of concern in the region.
He referred to the most recent incident, where Chinese Coast Guard vessels interfered with the resupply of Philippine troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre, a ship deliberately grounded on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal (or Ren’ai Jiao), a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands.
“The last two resupplies, there were six coast guardsmen on the Philippine resupply vessels that were injured and killed,” the Admiral said.
“These actions are dangerous, illegal and they are destabilising. The Second Thomas Shoal is the most dangerous flashpoint in your area of command.”
He praised Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Junior, who has said he will “not give an inch” of his country’s territory to Beijing, despite skirmishes between vessels from both nations.
“I commend the actions he’s taken as well as [those of] my counterparts ... in the Philippines, exposing the bad behaviour. That is a unilateral action by a strong nation to impress their will and goals on another nation in the region. If you were to think about that, it sounds a little like Russia and Ukraine,” he said.
“The illegal claim [by Beijing to] everything inside of the self-proclaimed nine or 10 dash line as Chinese sovereign territorial waters has no basis in international law. And it has been decreed by the 2016 tribunal that ... the Chinese have no legal claim.
“I’m very, very concerned about the direction it’s going.”
He pointed out, however, that this wasn’t the only territorial dispute in the region, citing Japan’s problem with aggressive behaviour by Beijing in the vicinity of the Senkaku Islands, as well as disputes with Malaysia, Indonesia, and India.
“The Chinese have renamed 30 areas across the Indian border. This is an approach that we’ve seen [before]. They’re going to rename and claim it. And then at some point in the future will dictate it as history—revisionist history—but history nonetheless, and erase the history of where the line of actual control really is. So I think India has similar concerns as it applies to [other] nations in the region,” he said.
Stronger With Allies
Adm. Aquilino said that the build-up in the military capacity of Japan—strongly rumoured to soon come on board AUKUS as a partner, though not a full member—“is only one example of what you’ve seen in the region as it applies to the strengthening of military capability ... this is about the threat.”He listed the Chinese Communist Party as an obvious threat in the region, as identified in the U.S. national defence strategy, as well as Russia, based on its illegitimate invasion of Ukraine.
The commander of the U.S. military in the Indo-Pacific region, Adm. Aquilino, is responsible for all U.S. military activities in the region, covering 36 countries from India to Carabosse—14 time zones and half of the world’s population. It’s an area known as IndoPACOM.
His remit includes some of the world’s flashpoints from the Taiwan Strait to the South China Sea to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (KDZ).
He described his mission as “number one, to prevent conflict in this region. And number two is if I fail at mission one, to be prepared to fight and win.”
A cornerstone of the second part of that mission, he said, was for U.S. forces to “integrate and synchronise” with allies and partners.
“Despite 375,000 people [under his command], the strength of what happens in this region is all of our alliances, our friendships and our partnerships with the entire region, whether that be militarily or economically,” Adm. Aquilino said.
“Those capabilities dwarf any competitor and each and every day, [and] any potential adversary needs to see that this globalised world and the linkage of like-minded nations is a problem that they will have.”
He pointed to several exercises that started off as bilateral and have since expanded to include many more Pacific nations.
North Korea an Additional Threat
North Korea’s continuing long-range missile activity and development of its nuclear capability in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions is also of concern, Adm. Aquilino said.“And if that’s not enough, violent extremism is still around and it’s in this theatre, the Philippines and in the southern Philippines, they have a real problem. So with that lineup, four of the five threats identified in the United States National Security Strategy are in this theatre.”
Recent increased cooperation among countries that pose a threat to the region is a new and potentially dangerous development, he warned.
“When you talk about what’s happened over the last year with regard to the synchronisation of some of those nations; the No Limits relationship between the PRC and Russia. That’s a problem we haven’t had before ... They’re operating more together both in the maritime and the airspace. They are certainly supporting each other ... So those are concerning [and] I'd argue going in the wrong direction,” he said.
Russian and North Korean (DPRK) cooperation, through weapon sharing and economic support was also an issue, the admiral said.
“That’s a problem and not because they’re supporting the economy but because the financial support to the DPRK is going to increase missile development and weapons development not to feed the people in the DPRK.”
In response to Beijing’s overtures to small Pacific nations, Adm. Aquilino said the United States’ strategy was to “work together to ensure we can help and support those islands to maintain their sovereignty, maintain their livelihood, and to maintain their linkage and ability to have a voice in a rules-based order as well.
“That gets to the point that an increased military presence is a direct threat to Australia as it applies to homeland defence. And it doesn’t put the United States in a good position, either.”
