According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the 20-day (August 19-September 9) 17-nation Air Force joint exercise “dark” hosted by the Australian military was held at Darwin Air Force Base in northern Australia on Friday (19th). open the battle. The 17 countries participating in the exercise are Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia; more than 100 aircraft and 2,500 people participate. This is the first time that Japan, Germany and South Korea have participated in the military exercise. .
Japanese officials said that they sent about 150 people and 6 F-2 fighter jets to participate in exercises including air defense combat training and aerial refueling training. The ROK Air Force has observed the “Darkness” military exercise five times since 2010, and this year is the first time to directly participate in the exercise.
Germany’s participation is particularly noteworthy. Germany has no territory in the Indo-Pacific, so it has never been interested in demonstrating military capabilities in Asia, and Berlin has previously chosen to stabilize its geopolitical footprint with economic and trade development rather than military strategy. Since former Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the “Indo-Pacific Policy Approach” in 2020, it has begun to turn, emphasizing that it will safeguard the rules-based international order and freedom of navigation at sea, and promote “security and defense cooperation.”
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany is joining the anti-China coalition in the Indo-Pacific region. Germany sent 6 Eurofighter Typhoons, 4 A400M transport aircraft, and 3 A330 MRTT air tankers to the “Rapid Pacific 2022” mission, a total of 13 military aircraft, and 250 officers and soldiers participated in the mission .
Lt-General Ingo Gerhartz, commander of the Luftwaffe, said that this was the largest and most challenging troop movement in the history of the Luftwaffe and had been prepared for two years. This mission will send a clear signal that “The Luftwaffe can quickly travel around the world for missions.”
Lieutenant General Gerhaz told the media that German troops would hardly fly into the South China Sea or pass through the Taiwan Strait. “Participating in the Australian exercise is not to send a threat message to China (CCP).” In other words, Germany’s purpose is to demonstrate its ability to become a key player in the Indo-Pacific.
Angshuman Choudhury, a senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Research, a think tank in New Delhi, India, pointed out that, compared with Germany, France is not shy about “challenging” the CCP’s hegemony. In 2020 and 2021, France dispatched several warships, including nuclear submarines, to patrol the Indo-Pacific hotspots, and even sent a fleet to pass through the Taiwan Strait; the long-range air force missions to counter the CCP’s intimidation are even more numerous.
It is not surprising that the French Air Force has stopped technically in India. With the cooperation of French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, France-India defense cooperation has advanced significantly in recent years.
France has an “exclusive economic zone” of millions of square kilometers in the Indo-Pacific region, and many French citizens also live in its overseas territories. Therefore, this area is not only of great strategic significance for France, It is also about its military radiation capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region.
Just a few days before the German deployment, France, which is not the first to participate in the “Pitch Black” exercise, also sent a fleet to carry out the 16,600-kilometer long-range mission code-named “Pégase 22” (Pégase 22). A fleet of three Rafale fighter jets flew from France to New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean, with a brief technical stop in India. The French embassy in Delhi said the deployment was “unprecedented”.
The first stop of the French military plane landing in the South Pacific is New Caledonia, which also implies France’s strategic intentions. Because New Caledonia can be regarded as a “repair port” for French troops stationed overseas, providing a “foothold” for some French military aircraft and ships carrying out military missions in the Indo-Pacific region. But in recent years, Beijing and New Caledonia have cooperated on some mineral resources, which has unnerved the French side.
The French media “L’Usine Nouvelle” (L’Usine Nouvelle) pointed out that it is clear that the first phase of the French military mission in New Caledonia is to counter the Chinese influence in the region.
Senior researcher Angshuman Chowdhury pointed out that the participation of the German and French air forces in the Indo-Pacific military exercise, however, this happened during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Nancy Pelosi) visited Taiwan after the visit. The reason There are two points.
First, it reflects the growing concern among some European countries about Beijing’s growing strategic influence in the Indo-Pacific junction. European assessment reports are beginning to recognize that the CCP is a bigger threat than Russia. “They are not wrong, because it is an indisputable fact that Beijing has far greater economic and political influence than Moscow.”
Second, the “dark” joint military exercise comes at a time when Beijing is angered by the US delegations led by Pelosi and Senator Ed Markey to visit Taiwan, and the timing is sensitive. This unprecedented joint exercise is likely to be interpreted by Beijing as a provocation, escalating tensions again. “No matter how careful Germany is to avoid the South China Sea, if Beijing has to be angry, it will still be angry.”
Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have made France and Germany determined to maintain their military presence in the Indo-Pacific region. Major General Stéphane Groën of the French Aerospace Forces said that participating in high-level international cooperation can strengthen France’s ties with allies around the world. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht also stressed that “it shows that we are also concerned about security outside Europe”.