The New Great Game Between The World's Major Powers Is Shifting To The Seas

U.S. Navy (Photo by Mass Communication Spc. 2nd Class Logan C. Kellums) 

Geoffrey F. Gresh, War On The Rocks: The New Great Game At Sea 

Last month, India included Australia in its annual Malabar naval exercise for the first time since 2007. The exercise was held in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea and also included the United States and Japan, which only joined as a permanent member in 2015. Australia’s newly announced inclusion represents the growing concerns about China’s maritime rise across Eurasia, from the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean to East Asia and the Arctic. Malabar comes in juxtaposition to the annual exercise China hosts with Russia entitled Joint Sea. Since 2012, Russia and China have conducted the Joint Sea naval exercises as a way to bolster their relationship, while also gaining a greater understanding of their respective naval technologies and platforms. For the first several years, the Joint Sea drills primarily took place across East Asia, including the Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan, East China Sea, and South China Sea. But for the last several years, the two countries have expanded their exercises first to the Mediterranean in 2015 and then to the Baltic in 2017. 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: The U.S. response has been to initiate its own massive shipbuilding program regardless of the cost .... Navy's New Controversial Shipbuilding Plan Raids Air Force And Army's Piggy Banks (Warzone/The Drive).