The Anglosphere Sentinel State's tilt to the Indo-Pacific to counter China
The twenty-first century has seen the Anglosphere Sentinel states recognise the importance of the Indo-Pacific region. The increased military power of the People’s Republic of China is regarded as a threat to Anglospheric values and trading interests.
All five Sentinel States have acted in conjunction to create new security relationships with Indo-Pacific states or reinvigorate older arrangements. These new alliances involve the Sentinel States in bilateral and multilateral arrangements in various configurations with each other and with other states in the region. These security arrangements complement the Five Eyes Intelligence and Five Eyes Armies/Navies fraternal relationships.
A pre-existing multilateral security arrangement of significance is the Commonwealth orientated Five Power Defence Agreement (FPDA) involving three Sentinel States; Australia, New Zealand and the UK, with Singapore and Malaysia. Another example is “the Quad” of Australia, India, Japan and the US. In late 2021, the tripartite “AUKUS” was announced between Australia, the US and the UK. AUKUS will see the US and UK exchange nuclear techology with Australia for the purpose of facilitating the creation of a nuclear power Royal Australian Navy submarine force. The UK has called for these arrangements to be extended to India and Japan.
Melting polar cap - Opening of the Arctic to the Pacific
The UK is the only Sentinel state without a significant sovereign presence in the Pacific. It does however, that significant trading interests and long-standing security commitments to states and communities in the region.
More importantly are the geopolitical implications of melting Arctic ice cap. The receding ice brings access to the Pacific much closer. This creates trading opportunities given the expanding regional markets of East and South East Asia. It also creates new security threats too. The People’s Republic of China has declared itself “a near-Arctic State” with strategic interests in the region. This has included collaborative projects with Russia, Arctic Research bases and the commissioning of of nuclear powered icebreaker ships.
The Sentinel State’s Indo Pacific cooperation is complimented by increased collaboration around this new potential ‘gateway.’ The UK and Canada embarked on a series of joint initiatives that utilise UK nuclear powered submarines for under-ice Arctic patroling and Royal Navy personnel training on Canadian ice-breaker patrols. In 2020, the UK and the US initiated joint naval exercises in the Arctic as part of ongoing Five Eyes Navies cooperation. This was followed by joint US-Canadian Arctic exercises in 2022.
Sentinel States Ministerial Statements on their Indo-Pacific tilt
Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan on Five Eyes working with others
"Five Eyes is probably one of the most trusted agreements that we have. It’s not just: 'You sign an agreement, and you’re part of a trusted group.' There are some very strict measures that every nation needs to take in terms of the security architecture that’s needed inside your country, how we communicate — that provides a framework. That framework also includes a set of laws about governance, as well. But it does not preclude us from working with other partners, and [those partners] having greater cooperation with the Five Eyes."
Harjit Sajjan, Defence Minister 2022
NZ Foreign Affairs Minister, Nanaia Mahuta rebuts Chinese Criticism of Human Rights
China took exception to NZ joining a Five Eyes declaration supporting Hong Kong democracy.
China said,
"No matter if they have five eyes or ten eyes, if they dare to harm China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, they should beware of their eyes being poked and blinded."
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the Five Eyes declaration was an attempt to, "to turn up the dial to say, 'There are actually many countries that feel the same way.' We're looking to China to consider the level of concern that's been expressed in relation to Hong Kong."
Nanaia Mahuta Nov 2020
Australian Deputy Prime Minister & Defence Minister, Richard Marles
"I will be applying a rigorous focus on improving alliance cooperation. And my first priority will be our trilateral partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom under AUKUS. For a three-ocean nation, the heart of deterrence is undersea capability. AUKUS will not only make Australia safer; it will make Australia a more potent and capable partner. That the United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to work with Australia to meet our needs is not only a game-changer; it illustrates why alliances help reinforce, not undermine, our country’s national sovereignty.
"Collaboration with other partners will need to be central to our efforts and we want to expand exercises and operational deployments in the region, drawing on the success of exercises like Talisman-Sabre, RIMPAC, and Malabar. We look to trilateralize cooperation with Japan ... and we will look for more defense cooperation with other key regional partners like India, the Republic of Korea, and our Southeast Asian neighbors. We already have a strong base from which to build, but the Australian government is committed to further strengthening these relationships."
Richard Marles 2022
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Stresses importance of Five Eyes in Indo-Pacific
"Obviously, we have a very important relationship with the U.S., and we work with them, obviously, throughout the continent and the hemisphere, and particularly also, the Arctic. But we need to set ourselves more as a Pacific nation. That is why the goal is to deepen the partnership in the Northern Pacific, definitely with Japan and Korea. And at the same time, we will continue to work with our Five Eyes allies, definitely Australia and New Zealand, and we want to make sure that we invest in the centrality of ASEAN and all the ASEAN countries.
Melanie Joly, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs 2022
US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin on Chinese challenge to values in Indo-pacific
"The PRC is the only country with both the will and increasingly the power to reshape its region and the international order to suit its authoritarian preferences... So let me be clear: We will not let that happen."
"The [US Defense] department is putting its focus, its time and its money, where its mouth is, and so we're matching our investments with new operational concepts suited to 21st century deterrence in the Indo-Pacific...
"These next few years will set the terms of our competition with the People’s Republic of China. They will shape the future of security in Europe," Austin said. "And they will determine whether our children and grandchildren inherit an open world of rules and rights — or whether they face emboldened autocrats who seek to dominate by force and fear."
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"It... means strengthening the Indo-Pacific’s security architecture. That of course centers on our valued alliances and ASEAN—but it’s reinforced by a range of mechanisms, both old and new, including the Indo-Pacific Quad, and AUKUS, and the Five Eyes, and the triangle of the U.S., Japan, and South Korea."
Uk Defence Minister Ben Wallace on Defence of Anglospheric Values
"An increasingly assertive and global power in Asia is becoming evermore expansionist in its economic coercion and aggressive in its military posture. Lesser powers in Asia and the Middle East continue their own destabilization of those regions...
What all those actors have in common is that they not only disregard our values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law, but they actively work against them and the international system on which our way of life depends. Make no mistake: The liberal consensus we once took for granted is not only 'under threat' but long gone...
Since our shared values were never universal, we must be more proactive and self-confident in their reassertion if we are to avoid seeing them and today’s relative peace further eroded.our success will be dictated by actions, not words, and we are already practicing what we preach. This year, our carrier strike group’s maiden deployment to the Asia-Pacific and the signing of the new AUKUS trilateral security partnership have demonstrated our enduring commitment to those sharing our values, wherever they are in the world."
Ben Wallace Dec 2021
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the Importance of the Indo-pacific
"The Indo-Pacific is increasingly crucial for our security and our prosperity. It is teeming with dynamic and fast-growing economies, and the next decade will be defined by what happens in this region.
I know first-hand the incredible value of the deep cultural and historic ties we have with India. I am pleased that even more of India’s brightest young people will now have the opportunity to experience all that life in the UK has to offer – and vice-versa - making our economies and societies richer."
Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister 2023
Australian Foreign Secretary, Penny Wong on the importance of the Indo-Pacific tilt.
"North Korea conducted more than 60 ballistic missile launches last year. And last August, five Chinese ballistic missiles were reported to have fallen in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. If conflict were to break out in the Indo-Pacific, it would be catastrophic – for our people and our prosperity.
And with the Indo-Pacific’s centrality to global prosperity and security, the cost would extend far beyond us and reach into every region. So we must ensure that competition between major powers is managed responsibly.
It is up to all countries to ask ourselves how can we each use our national power, our influence, our networks, our capabilities, to avert catastrophic conflict.
...Our historic AUKUS partnership with the United Kingdom and the United States will help us maintain our capability in the Indo-Pacific into the future, and complement our collective efforts to ensure regional stability and security.
This has been a genuinely collaborative effort between three close and long-standing partners…
...we welcome the UK’s efforts to promote the accepted rules of freedom of navigation through the Carrier Strike Group deployment, which toured more than 40 countries in 2021, and continues to engage in the region.
Our military capability is a key part of how we manage strategic competition – but it is only one part of it.
Alongside new acquisitions and exercises, we must keep focus on diplomacy, economic openness and upholding the rules; working with our regional partners in the Pacific, ASEAN, Northeast Asia and the Quad.
Penny Wong February 2023
NZ Defence Minister Peeni Henare on importance of Indo-pacific
"...strategic competition is increasingly the background for states' relationships. China's rise is the major driver for this competition. Globally, strategic competition is most visible between China and the United States, but all other states are involved to varying degrees."
"Strategic competition will play out across a range of theatres [including in space and cyber space] in ways that will threaten New Zealand's security: this is true of both the wider Indo-Pacific and in New Zealand's immediate Pacific region."
Peeni Henare, Defence Minister 2022
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on the Indo-pacific Tilt
"The Indo-Pacific Tilt also means recognising that security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific are indivisible from Europe’s...
"Alongside the US, we are bringing world-leading submarine technology through our AUKUS partnership to support Australia’s defence and security capabilities, and this will bolster regional peace and stability.
And the UK is working with partners across the Indo-Pacific to strengthen cyber security and secure critical national infrastructure. Including with ASEAN through their dedicated centre... in Singapore.
Thirdly, [we promote] partnership through our values. The UK and many Indo-Pacific countries are committed to shared values. Our commitment to sovereignty and territorial integrity, and freedom from economic coercion. Our shared beliefs in the value of democracy and open markets.."
James Cleverly, UK Foreign Secretary 2022
