On March 30, the French amphibious assault ship Raiden and the frigate Skuf docked at the indian port of Cochin for the Gulf of Bengal to participate in the "La Bellus" maritime exercise. (Video screenshot)
Since the first leaders' summit of the Quad Security Dialogue (QUAD) held by the United States, Japan, India and Australia on March 12, the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" mechanism, which is led by the United States and is the "pawn" of the US Asia-Pacific policy, is showing signs of expanding.
From April 5 to 7, the "La Bellus" maritime joint military exercise led by France and participated by the United States, Japan, India and Australia was held in the Bay of Bengal. After the United Kingdom explicitly proposed to join the Quartet Security Dialogue+, France became the first country to participate in the actual military operations of the mechanism.
Today, French warships are not only present in the Indian Ocean to participate in military exercises, but will also go to Japan next month to participate in land exercises. Why did France come to the Indo-Pacific to "join in the fun"? The analysis pointed out that France regards itself as an "Indian republic" and wants to expand its influence to the world under the framework of the United States. Can this ambition of France be realized? What impact will it have on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region?
Southern Daily, April 13, 2021 A11 edition
Warships of the five countries "appear on the same stage"
The "La Bellus" maritime joint exercise, led by France, began in 2019 with the military exercise of the same name by France, the United States, Japan and Australia in the waters of the Bay of Bengal. This year marks india's first participation in the exercise.
During the exercise, France dispatched the "Northwest Wind" class amphibious assault ship "Raiden" and "Lafayette" class frigate "Skuf"; the United States dispatched the "Somerset" dock transport ship, Australia sent the "Annzac" guided missile frigate and the "Sirius" oil bomb supply ship, Japan sent the Maritime Self-Defense Force "Akebono" destroyer, and India sent the "Satpura" stealth frigate, "Gildan" anti-submarine frigate and the US-made P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft to participate in the exercise.
French Northwest Wind class amphibious assault ship.
In addition to France, the United States, Japan, India and Australia have all participated in the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" mechanism led by the United States. In recent years, the interaction between the four countries under this mechanism has become more frequent. Last November, the sea forces of the four countries gathered in the Bay of Bengal for the first time to conduct the "Malabar" maritime joint exercise.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue mechanism is one of the strategic pillars of the United States' Asia-Pacific policy. The analysis pointed out that since last year, an expanded version of the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" mechanism is moving from vision to reality, and France has become the first European country to participate in the actual military operations of the mechanism.
Nanfang Daily special military commentator Oolong Defense introduced that the French "Lafayette" class frigate is the world's first stealth frigate, but the ship entered service in the late 1990s, the technology has been old; the "Northwest Wind" class amphibious assault ship has a full load displacement of more than 20,000 tons, second only to the "Charles de Gaulle" aircraft carrier in the French Navy sequence, but compared with the Displacement of more than 40,000 tons of american "Wasp" class amphibious assault ship is "small and exquisite".
Ling Han, a military expert, believes that the joint maritime exercise carried out by France in the Bay of Bengal region is not only to enhance its military presence in the sea east of the Andaman Islands and form a "cork" to curb the northern outlet of the Strait of Malacca; it also actively cooperates with the US Asia-Pacific policy and enhances the influence of the "quadrilateral security dialogue" mechanism through the model of joint military operations with the United States, Japan, India and Australia.
The French military is hard to shoulder
For the "La Bellus" military exercise, Japan's "Nikkei Asian Review" quoted Pankaj Jeha, former deputy director of the Secretariat of the Indian National Security Council and professor of defense and strategic studies at Jindal Global University, as saying that France has built a "quadripartite security dialogue +" mechanism in the Indian Ocean region through the military exercise, and France hopes to play a "deterrent role" (to do something).
In February this year, the French Ruby-class nuclear submarine "Emerald" and the submarine support ship "Senna" patrolled the South China Sea, causing regional tensions. In an interview with French Defense Minister Florence Parly published in the French newspaper Le Figaro on February 18, Parly defended the operation: France is an "Indo-Pacific country" with an exclusive economic zone of 9 million square kilometers in the Indo-Pacific region. France hopes that its "presence" will demonstrate its support for "freedom of navigation" and international law.
Parli also said on social media that France has the world's second largest exclusive economic zone and that France intends to protect "our sovereignty and interests."
However, France's recent military actions in the Asia-Pacific region do not seem to be limited to "defending national sovereignty and interests".
This year, the French "Joan of Arc" battle group led by the "Thunderbolt" will continue its mission to Japan after completing its exercises in the Bay of Bengal. According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency, the French Army, the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Marine Corps will hold an island seizure exercise at the Kirishima Exercise Ground of the Ground Self-Defense Force on the Japanese island of South Kyushu in May, which is the first time that the French Army has participated in a military exercise on Japanese soil.
The high-frequency activities of the French army and the navy in the Indian Ocean and the Asia-Pacific region seem to have the meaning of "taking the lead" for the "quartet security dialogue+" mechanism. However, Oolong Defense believes that the recent military operations in France are of greater political significance than military significance, and the country does not have the conditions for deep involvement in the Indian Ocean and the Situation in the Asia-Pacific Region.
According to the analysis of Oolong defense, France has overseas territories such as Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, and the French Navy's garrison in the region has remained "minimal" for a long time. France uses a large number of low-armed and high-endurance "notification ships" to carry out patrolling missions in the area. The six "Flower Moon" class frigates stationed in the port of Papeete in French Polynesia and the capital of New Caledonia, Noumea, have a full load displacement of nearly 3,000 tons, and are only equipped with simple weapons such as an M1968 type 100 mm main gun, and do not have the combat capability to deal with regular conflicts.
Oolong Defense pointed out that the development momentum of the French three armed forces is relatively slow. The United Kingdom has entered 2 "Queen Elizabeth" class aircraft carriers, while the French Navy still only has one "Charles de Gaulle" aircraft carrier that entered service at the beginning of this century, the army has been greatly reduced since the Cold War period, and the air force still does not have five generations of fighters. France's desire to exert influence in the regional military "quasi-alliance" constructed by the United States is tantamount to "carving a boat and asking for a sword".
Britain, France, Germany and so on are ready to move
In May 2019, France published the French Indo-Pacific Defense Strategy report, calling the country "an Indo-Pacific country closely related to the development of the Indo-Pacific security situation." On the one hand, the report points out that the prevalence of unilateralism and the return of bilateral confrontation will affect the stability and security of the Indo-Pacific region; on the other hand, it proposes that it will "maintain its influence and freedom of movement in the Indo-Pacific and maintain a security environment conducive to the economic and political activities of France and its partners".
Ling Han pointed out that since the unilateralist policy of the previous US administration caused tension in the relations between countries in the Asia-Pacific region, its model of co-opting European allies to enter the Asia-Pacific region has also made the traditional European colonialist "gunboat policy" "revived" in the modern international environment. Under the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" mechanism, the United States, Japan, India, Australia, and many European countries are particularly characterized by their attempts to expand their influence in the Asia-Pacific region militarily.
On a visit to India last December, British Foreign Secretary Raab said britain did not rule out the possibility of joining the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. On April 9 this year, during his visit to Indonesia and Brunei, Raab confirmed the dispatch of the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth to visit the Indo-Pacific region.
Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japan and Germany will hold a "2+2" meeting between the defense minister and the foreign minister in the form of a conference call on April 16. In March, Japan and Germany signed the Agreement on the Protection of Information in Tokyo. This intelligence "network" has been extended to European countries after the signing of bilateral intelligence agreements between the four countries participating in the "Quadripartite Security Dialogue" mechanism between the United States, Japan, India and Australia.
Chen Xiangsi, an associate researcher at the China South China Sea Research Institute, analyzed that the intensive signing of intelligence agreements and logistics agreements by countries participating in the expanded version of the "Quadripartite Security Dialogue" means that the UNITED Alliance and partner countries are gradually taking shape in building a "quasi-ally" system in the Asia-Pacific region. It is worth vigilance that this new system adheres to the Cold War mentality, emphasizes ideological divisions and conceptual systems based on the Assumption of the United States, and has inherent prejudices about maintaining the "traditional international order".
Chen Xiangsi believes that after Brexit and the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, European countries such as Britain, France and Germany realized that there was a division within the EU, and it was difficult to rely on the EU system to maintain its influence in global affairs, so it emphasized its own initiative and returned to "power politics", hoping to maintain its influence, interests and voice in security affairs in the Asia-Pacific region through mechanisms such as the "Quadripartite Security Dialogue" built by the United States.
"The United States has built an expanded version of the 'Quadripartite Security Dialogue' with the aim of containing the rising powers in the Asia-Pacific region through various means in order to return to what it calls the 'traditional international order.'" However, Chen Xiangsi judged that the purpose of European countries participating in the mechanism is still to compete with the Asia-Pacific countries, and will not cooperate with the United States to take economic suppression and other means.
"The United States is not a post-Cold War United States, and it can no longer take over the defense affairs of the alliance system, and needs to rely on the help of European countries." The Perception of Reality in European Countries is clear. Chen Xiangshi said that in the "quadripartite security dialogue" mechanism, India has always shown a "selective participation" role, even if it signs a "quasi-alliance" agreement with other three countries, it does not mean that it accepts all US-led arrangements.
According to the "Times of India" and other reports, the destroyer "John Paul Jones" of the US Seventh Fleet carried out a "freedom of navigation" operation near the Laxa Islands in India on the 7th. The Indian Foreign Ministry said on the 9th that the US warship crossed India's exclusive economic zone "without consent". Indian media commented that there have been "rare differences" between India and the United States in the rapidly developing defense relationship.
Ling Han believes that issues such as "free navigation" proposed by the United States and followed by European countries are the causes of provoking conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region. The participation of more countries in the US-led confrontational system will mean that the contradictions and conflicts of interest between the participating countries will become more obvious, and it will also have a negative impact on the safety of navigation in the region.
[Reporter in Beijing] Ling Xi
【Planning】Li Jin, Qi Lei, He Xuefeng
【Author】 Ling Xi; Li Jin; Qi Lei; He Xuefeng
Military intelligence observation
Source: South+ - Create more value