Australian-based Marines ready to support Manila in sea-territory skirmish

Editor’s Note: This piece by Seth Robson features quotes from CSP Senior Fellow, Grant Newsham.

MOUNT BUNDEY TRAINING AREA, Australia — A Marine rotational force in northern Australia is ready to back up the Philippines in clashes with China over disputed territory in the South China Sea, according to the force’s commander.

“We were given a warning order to support the Philippines defense forces in resupplying of the Second Thomas Shoal,” Marine Rotational Force — Darwin commander Col. Brian Mulvihill told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday at an Outback training camp in the Northern Territory.

Mulvihill, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, commands 2,000 Marines in the territory. He said members of the rotational force have been in the Philippines for extended periods this year for the Balikatan, Valiant Shield and Marine Aviation Support Activity exercises.

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Support platform

Darwin is an excellent platform for launching forces into Southeast Asia, according to Grant Newsham, a retired Marine colonel and senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo.

“It’s good to see Darwin and Northern Territory being used this way … rather than just as a training area for Marines, Air Force, and Australian and other forces,” he said by email Thursday.

The Marines can offer the Philippines fire support coordination. They can help with logistics and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and guard locations that support Philippine forces operating towards the disputed shoal, he said.

“Of course, Marines can deploy aboard Philippine resupply boats alongside [Philippine] personnel,” he said.

Marine engineers could repair the Sierra Madre at the shoal and Marine helicopters could resupply it, Newsham added.

“A U.S. amphibious ship or two with Marines and their aircraft and other hardware aboard deployed to Second Thomas Shoal would be a serious force — and also sending a clear message,” he said. “Deploying Marines in the Philippines with their aviation, long-range rockets, and other hardware has a political significance in itself.”

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