Seeking to demonstrate its role as a regional power, Australia is once again stirring the waters of the Asia-Pacific.

Double Standards Are Their Everything

Australia has long been among those Western states that consistently exacerbate an already tense situation in the SCS. In particular, it actively goads the Philippines toward escalation in disputed areas and constantly seeks to “leave its mark” and make its presence felt in every possible way—with ships, aircraft, exercises, reconnaissance, and so forth. This, however, does not prevent the Australian side from waxing lyrical about international maritime law, peace, stability, and the security of sea lanes. What is more, no one in Southeast Asia—a region where Australia does not belong, being an Oceanian rather than an Asian power—ever asked it to weigh in. Its rhetoric is flatly contradicted by its actions: what Canberra has been methodically doing for years is nothing other than the very militarization of the South China Sea for which the United States and its allies routinely blame everyone but themselves.

… And “Competitions” of a Peculiar Sort

For the Australian armed forces, these drills became their largest overseas deployment since the 1999 peacekeeping operation in East Timor. This clearly signaled that in interfering in a region where its presence is patently unwelcome, Australia is determined to take bold steps.

Over two weeks, Australian service members........

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