CHRIS REASON: As PM charms China, Australia hosts 19-nation war games with eyes on Beijing

The timing was as extraordinary as it was unfortunate.

The very week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese chose to go charm China, Australia’s armed forces begin training to go to war with them.

It’s quite the diary clash; his appointments secretary might need to reconsider their position.

Exercise Talisman Sabre. It’s locked in around the same time every two years and has been since 2005. And this year was the biggest, most ambitious, and significant iteration of them all: 19 nations, 40,000 troops, all coming together to focus on just one increasingly troubling adversary: China.

There was a time Talisman would rattle that sabre at a so-called “unknown adversary” and the assembled press and generals would wink and nod their heads, knowing that was code for the People’s Republic. Like fine China itself, identification was always handled with care.

Not anymore.

The fingers of 19 nations are firmly pointed at the neighbourhood rogue; happy to point China out.

There’s almost an urgency about it now.

At the Talisman Sabre opening ceremony, held on the expansive landing deck of the Australian giant HMAS Adelaide on Sunday, the ADF Chief of Joint Operations Vice Admiral Justin Jones, had no hesitancy or inhibitions in putting China’s name firmly on the table.

When asked what message the coalition of Talisman partners was sending in the three-week exercise, it was all about China.

“Well, I will leave it to China to interpret what 19 friends, allies and partners wanting to operate together in the region means to them,” he said.

“But for me, it’s nations that are in search of a common aspiration for peace, stability, a free and open Indo-Pacific and adherence to international law.”

Vice Admiral Jones was also happy to openly discuss the expected arrival of China’s spy ships.

“I fully expect that the People’s Republic of China will want to come and observe the activities that occur as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre,” he said.

“They’ve made a habit of those over preceding iterations of the exercise.”

Adding cryptically: “And we have measures in place to cater for that.”

But he also revealed that if they were on the way, they’re late.

“There is no sign yet,” he said.

It could be that the PLA Navy leadership held back any orders to dispatch their ships while Mr Albanese was still their official visitor this week. A gesture of goodwill, perhaps.

But they won’t want to leave it much longer; there’s a lot to spy on.

Exercise Director Brigadier Damien Hill, who’s been planning the event for the last 700 days, says he’s counted a total of 79 defence “innovations” about to be unveiled at Talisman. Two of which the organisers were happy to discuss publicly.

The first is Australia’s newly-acquired HIMARS highly mobile rocket launch system — the so-called “shoot and scoot” weapon. It can fire rockets at a range of up to 500km. Even out to sea — almost as far as the Chinese ships conducting live fire exercises off the coast in February.

The ADF has bought 42 units. And it’s excited. These were the first items displayed in a breathtaking live fire exercise at Shoalwater Bay on the opening day of the exercise yesterday.

The second breakthrough acquisition: the ADF’s new submersible drones. I asked the US Deputy Commanding General, Lt Gen Joel Vowell, if we’d see any used in TS25. In fact, I’d walked straight past one as we boarded the Adelaide. And he confirmed, it will be used.

The boldly-named “Ghost Shark” was jointly developed and funded between Defence and Anduril Australia. They are a naval warfare game changer — able to be used for long-range stealth operations at a depth of 6000m and gather intelligence, or deliver strike capabilities.

World-leading Aussi-tech — on-budget, ahead of schedule. They are one of the rare success stories of ADF procurement. Expect to see a proliferation of them in the years to come.

Proud acquisitions — but the reality remains that whatever new toys Australia purchases for its tiny 60,000-strong military, it is dwarfed by the size and scale of the Chinese war machine.

The PLA consists of two million personnel, 2500 aircraft, 7000 tanks and 350 ships.

The ADF is currently made up of 327 aircraft, 59 tanks, and 34 ships.

But here’s the thing about Talisman — if you combine the strengths of the 19 members, suddenly China looks challenged. The combined membership matches it in personnel with two million total, and dwarfs China on assets with 15,000 aircraft, 50,000 tanks and 400 ships.

It’s quite the exercise coalition. Led, of course, by the world’s biggest military machine, the US (the original co-founding member along with Australia). It now boasts almost all of the region’s key players: India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (with Malaysia and Vietnam attending as observers). On top of that, there are multiple NATO heavy hitters: Canada, France, Germany and the UK.

Any and all of whom could be handy in a new global order where America First means Australia second. The coming years could well see us looking to lean on the countries above for greater security assistance.

Not that the Americans involved in Talisman are having any of that. Lt Gen Vowell still describes the US-Australian alliance as “ironclad”.

”It’s one of our treaty alliances . . . of the seven the United States has,” he said.

“Australia is a key anchoring ally in the Indo-Pacific.”

“Big things have small beginnings, and just a few years ago, this was a bilateral exercise,” he said. “And now with 19 nations involved, it’s a signal of just how important staying and working together is in this region.”

Lt Gen Vowell said that ultimately, there are two things that Talisman Sabre provides.

“It’s the readiness to respond when our nation’s call is to do that,” he said. “And it’s effectively a deterrent mechanism.”

“Because our ultimate goal, is no war.”

The mixed messages Australia and Mr Albanese are sending to China right now might not be as contradictory as first thought.

The tourists and trade are welcome, but the aggression might be met with HIMARS and hand grenades.