(Bloomberg) — Australia’s military is ready to deploy with its allies if needed in Asia or beyond, its defense chief said Friday at the conclusion of military exercises in the South China Sea with the U.S., the Philippines and others.
“Should our governments decide, whether in this region or elsewhere, that we need to work together, we’re confident we have the capabilities,” Admiral David Johnston, Australia’s military chief, said in an interview in Manila. “We rehearsed it, we trained it, we practiced it.
Johnston was in the Philippines at the end of the Balikatan military exercise, which involved about 400 Australians along with more than 15,000 personnel from the Philippines, the US, Canada, Japan, France and New Zealand. Before flying to Manila, he met in Canberra with the commander of US forces in the Pacific, Samuel Paparo. Johnston was appointed to his current role in 2024 and will step down in July.
Australia aims to conduct more military activities, including exercises with countries such as Japan and Indonesia, in line with the goal of a stable Indo-Pacific and southwest Pacific, Johnston said.
“We will do everything in our power to avert the conflict from the beginning,” he said.
The exercise included Japan’s first combat troops in the Philippines since World War II, with soldiers from the Ground Self-Defense Force firing an anti-ship missile to help sink a retired warship, while the US also fired a missile from a system that moved to the island nation several years ago.
Nations across the region are scrambling to boost defense spending, with Australia planning to spend billions of dollars more, including on new Japanese warships, to bolster its navy. Japan is also looking to transfer older ships to the Philippine military as both countries grow increasingly concerned about China’s growing military power and reach.
Johnston declined to identify any specific risks he saw in the region, stressing that Balikatan, which means “shoulder to shoulder” in Tagalog, focuses on disaster relief and medical training as well as combat operations.
Since taking office in 2022, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has strengthened ties with Washington and other allies to counter Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea, which were invalidated by a 2016 international arbitration ruling.
The strategic waterway is believed to contain vast reserves of oil and gas, and trillions of dollars in global trade pass through it every year.
“This is a deterrence exercise as much as an exercise,” Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in a speech during Balikatan’s closing ceremonies.
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