40,000 Troops, 19 Nations: The China Threat Unites U.S. Allies

ROCKHAMPTON, Australia—Artillery, rocket launchers and self-propelled howitzers opened fire at a training area in northern Australia on Monday, kick-starting three weeks of military drills here between the U.S. and 18 allies.

The biennial exercise, called Talisman Sabre, is meant to send a message to China: The U.S. and its partners are ready to respond together to aggression from Beijing, which has been increasingly asserting itself in what it regards as its sphere of influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Our resolve to train, and will to prepare and will to fight, that’s not made up,” said Lt. Gen. J.B. Vowell, the deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, after he watched munitions hit a simulated enemy on a hillside in the training zone.

This year’s Talisman Sabre is the 11th and largest iteration of the exercise, officials said. Some 40,000 personnel from 19 nations are involved. The exercise, which includes Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, India and several European countries, has become a cornerstone of U.S. efforts to deter Beijing from launching a military strike on Taiwan, the self-governing island it claims as its own.

Beijing often sends spy ships to observe the exercise, and Australian officials said they expected China to monitor the drills again.