Role of Australia in Indo-Pacific Strategy

澳大利亚在“印太战略”中扮演什么角色

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Li Jiayao
Time
2022-08-26 18:55:45

By Wu Minwen

吴敏文

On August 19, a multinational military exercise code-named “Pitch Black 2022” led by Australia kicked off, with armed forces from 17 countries in North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia involved. The exercise is a three-week multi-national exercise conducted primarily from RAAF Base Darwin, RAAF Base Tindal, and surrounding areas.

当地时间8月19日,由澳大利亚主导,来自北美、欧洲、大洋洲和亚洲共计17国武装力量参演的“漆黑-2022”联合军演开启,演习将持续约3周,主要在澳大利亚北部的达尔文基地、廷达尔基地及周边区域展开。

The 17 participating countries in Exercise Pitch Black 2022 include Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, ROK, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, marking the largest number of participating countries, with over 100 military aircraft and about 2,500 military personnel involved. In particular, Japan and ROK in East Asia attended the event for the first time.

此次“漆黑-2022”联合军演的参演国包括澳大利亚、美国、英国、加拿大、法国、德国、日本、韩国、印度、菲律宾、印度尼西亚、马来西亚、新加坡等17个,参演国家数量是该演习有史以来最多的,各国参演力量为军机100多架,军事人员约2500人。此次演习中,东亚地区国家日本和韩国首次加入。

Although the Australian military acts as the main organizer of the exercise, the US and NATO have instigated the event from behind, with the core purpose of implementing the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy focusing on containing China. Its specific impact may roughly be summarized into three points as follows.

“漆黑-2022”联合军演虽然由澳大利亚军方为主操办,但其背后真正的主使是美国和北约,其核心目的是落实以美国为主导、以遏制中国为目的“印太战略”,其具体影响大致有以下三个方面。

First, Exercise Pitch Black, a biennial one, is in concert with the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise from south to north. The US-led RIMPAC 2022 was held in waters around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California region from June 29 to August 4. The participating countries of RIMPAC 2022 have basically been those participating in the Exercise Pitch Black 2022. RIMPAC 2022 has mainly been a joint maritime military exercise in the northern Pacific Ocean, and Exercise Pitch Black 2022 is mainly an aerial military exercise in the southern Pacific Ocean. Besides, the two have been launched in succession, the concertation is clearly visible.

一是“漆黑”联演正在与“环太平洋”联合军演形成南北呼应之势。6月29日至8月4日,美国主导的“环太平洋-2022”联合军演在美国夏威夷群岛和加利福尼亚州南部周边海域展开。此次军演和“漆黑-2022”的主要参与国基本重合。“环太平洋-2022”主要是海上军演,地理区域在太平洋北部。“漆黑-2022”主要是空中军演,地理区域在太平洋南部,军演展开时间也基本衔接,二者之间的呼应态势呼之欲出。

The US, long having the distinction of being the “world police”, has obviously declined in strength inrecent years, though its ever-intensive implementation of the Indo-Pacific Strategy. This means that the US interest in becoming the “police of the Pacific Ocean” is undiminished; meanwhile, Australia has often called itself “deputy sheriff” of the Pacific Ocean, which makes the Exercise Pitch Black 2022 seem to be a way of fulfilling Australia’s “duty” as the so-called deputy sheriff in the region.

近年来,美国作为“世界警察”已经明显力不从心,但其实施“印太战略”的力度却在加大。这意味着它希望成为“太平洋警察”的兴趣不减,而澳大利亚经常以太平洋“副警长”自诩,这就使得“漆黑-2022”有履行所谓“副警长”“职责”的味道。

Second, the US may consider Australia as a rear base for its Indo-Pacific Strategy. As for the countries engaged in the Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) mechanism led by the US, India is quite limited in projecting sea and air forces to the Pacific region. Japan and the ROK are too close to China in geography, and the forces and military bases they have deployed may not be so capable and mighty to survive in wartime. In modern warfare, there is a huge demand for fuel, equipment and weapon parts, as well as medical support such as treatment and recuperation of the wounded and sick. It thus can be seen clearly, the role of Australia, which is relatively far away from China, as a rear base of the Indo-Pacific Strategy.

二是美国可能有将澳大利亚作为“印太战略”后方基地的考虑。在以美国为主导的“印太战略”“四方安全对话”机制国家中,印度向太平洋地区投送海空力量的能力有限。日本和韩国距离中国太近,其所部署的力量和军事基地,在战时生存能力堪忧。现代战争中,油料、武器零部件、伤病员治疗休养等卫勤保障的需求巨大,距离相对遥远的澳大利亚作为“印太战略”后方基地的用途凸显出来。

Third, Australia may serve as an “air combat command and dispatch center” in implementing the Indo-Pacific Strategy. As the Indo-Pacific Strategy is in a confrontation environment of high intensity, it is indispensable to resort to precision strikes, long-range strikes, and decapitation operations. In the confrontation of the type, the army, naval, and air force bases that are relatively close will all turn out to be possible targets of opponent, in particular command posts of diverse variety. In this regard, the US military intends to deploy land, sea, and air combat forces in a decentralized manner, and achieve combat formation during the process of combat preparation and long-range raid, so as to avoid being annihilated by the opponent’s long-range precision fires in the process of combat preparation and force formation.

三是澳大利亚或有作为“印太战略”的“空中作战指挥调度中心”的可能。由于“印太战略”面临高强度、高烈度的对抗环境,精确打击、远火打击、“斩首”作战将是必不可少的作战方式。这类对抗中,不仅距离较近的陆军基地、海军基地、空军基地都将成为对方可能的攻击目标,各类指挥所更是对手的打击首选。为此,美军意通过分散部署陆、海、空作战力量,在攻击准备阶段和远程奔袭的过程中完成作战编组,从而避免被对方的远程精确火力在作战准备和力量编成过程中被歼灭的后果。

In this regard, Australia still has a greater probability of survival and remaining safe given its distance. If the “air combat command and dispatch center” is set in Australia, it the US can realize command and dispatch of the air force stationed in Australia with high flexibility, and have the ability to command, dispatch, group for combat and assign combat missions to the combat aircraft dispersed in the US bases in Japan, the ROK, Guam and other areas. And the Exercise Pitch Black 2022 provides a good oppotunity for an air combat exercise.

在这一方面,澳大利亚仍然因为距离相对遥远而具有更大的生存概率和安全性。如果将“空中作战指挥调度中心”设在澳大利亚,不仅可以对驻澳大利亚的空军力量实现灵活的指挥调度,甚至具有对零散部署在日本、韩国以及关岛等基地的空军作战飞机进行指挥调度、临战编组、赋予作战任务等能力,而“漆黑-2022”联合军演正好是空战演练。

(The author is from College of Information and Communication, National University of Defense Technology)

(作者:吴敏文,单位:国防科技大学信息通信学院)

Editor's note: This article is originally published on news.youth.cn, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.

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