By Wang Qiang
The multinational maritime joint exercise codenamed "Will for Peace 2026" is being conducted in waters and airspace off the Port of Simon's Town, South Africa, from January 9 to 16, with participation from the BRICS member states including China, Russia, and South Africa.
The joint exercise, themed "Joint Actions to Ensure the Safety of Key Shipping Lanes and Maritime Economic Activities", aims to further deepen military exchanges and cooperation among participating countries. This joint exercise represents a concrete practice of BRICS countries focusing on non-traditional security fields and jointly maintaining the security of maritime trade routes. Moreover, it also serves as a positive attempt by the Global South countries to actively practice multilateralism, collaboratively address security challenges, deepen cooperation in the security field, and create international public security goods.
The joint exercises conducted by BRICS countries differ fundamentally from mechanisms such as NATO military drills. Security cooperation under the BRICS framework does not target any third-party nor presuppose any imagined adversaries. From the outset, it has been characterized by a distinct commitment to multilateralism and a pragmatic orientation. This joint exercise focuses on non-traditional security fields, addressing the practical needs of developing countries with greater relevance and applicability.
It is well known that maritime channels are the lifelines of global trade. Several key shipping lanes in the waters near South Africa, including the Cape of Good Hope route, have always been critical passages for the transportation of global energy resources and bulk commodities. By conducting joint training in this maritime area focusing on key subjects such as maritime search and rescue, anti-piracy patrols, and international shipping lane escort, the BRICS countries aim to combat transnational maritime crime and jointly safeguard the security of international shipping lanes. Moreover, these exercises hold strategic significance in innovating new paradigms for the joint management of international waterways and constructing a new architecture for global maritime security.
Some Western countries have deliberately sensationalized the so-called "confrontational nature" of the BRICS joint exercises, over-politicizing and maliciously labeling a pragmatic security cooperation conducted under the UN framework. This not only misrepresents the BRICS countries' cooperation in advancing the building of a maritime community with a shared future but also shows disregard for the shared security needs of nations. This conduct seriously erodes the fundamental mutual trust between nations and gravely jeopardizes global strategic stability.
By joining forces in maritime security joint exercises and continuously enhancing their coordinated response capabilities, the BRICS countries essentially aim to provide more reliable and robust public security goods for the global international shipping industry, thereby injecting stabilizing momentum into the volatile global industrial and supply chains.
(The author is a scholar of national security strategy.)
Editor's note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.