"The New Great Game at Sea" Topic

"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. The exercises have also tied into a more permanent regional naval presence: Last month Russia announced a 25-year basing agreement in Port Sudan for four warships and 300 military personnel. This comes on top of solidifying its Black Sea naval dominance following its takeover of Crimea in 2014, in addition to upgrading and establishing a more permanent presence at the naval base in Tartus, Syria, shortly thereafter. At the same time, China constructed its first overseas naval base, in Djibouti, in 2017 amid further speculation that it is seeking other basing access points. These ever-expanding exercises and basing locations represent the emergence of a new "Great Game" at sea, where rising navalism threatens to further destabilize the broader Indo-Pacific and beyond. But the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, among others, can help balance these troubling trends through greater maritime cooperation and investment in naval modernization and expansion efforts, along with supporting new partnerships with like-minded regional powers…"
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