Australia Mobilises Papua New Guinea in Largest Talisman Sabre to Protect the Indo Pacific

Isha Desai

Image sourced from via Wikimedia Commons.

On the 13^th of July, Australia began its largest operation of Talisman Sabre, a three-week joint biennial exercise from the Australian and US defence forces to develop deterrence in the Indo Pacific. The venture between Australia and the United States signals strong bilateral ties and the intention to create combined capabilities. Talisman Sabre 2025 highlights Australia’s growing concern over stability and development in the region, mobilising smaller Pacific nations for the first time in the exercises’ history. Coinciding with the Prime Minister’s visit to China, Talisman Sabre also emphasises the disconnect between Australia’s front-facing position and tangible defence agenda. Australia is at risk of ‘severely circumscribing’ its strategic options by trying to straddle two juxtaposing agendas. 

35,000 personnel will be engaged from over 19 nations over three weeks. However, this year marks the first time that military activities will take place outside Australia, in Papua New Guinea (PNG). During the Australia-PNG Defence Ministers Meeting in February 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and PNG Minister for Defence Dr Billy Joseph reaffirmed the defence partnership as a major pillar of the Comprehensive Strategic and Economic Partnership. PNG’s inclusion in Talisman Sabre was proposed to deepen integration and to ‘train and affirm our interoperability’. Dr Billy Joseph characterised the collaboration as a ‘maturing of our defence relationship.’ Their involvement will include live-fire drills, amphibious landings and cyber operations. 

Across the Indo-Pacific, Fiji will deploy 130 personnel from the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RMF) and Tonga will be volunteering their own equipment for exercises. Malaysia and Vietnam are also attending the 2025 operations as observers. The inclusion of these nations is designed to extend the influence of Australia’s rules-based defence ideology while developing tangible defence capacities. 

Such international collaboration is a commitment to a ‘stable and sovereign Indo-Pacific’, according to the ADF’s Chief of Joint Operations, Vice Admiral Justin Jones. The concept of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ was developed by Japan and reinforced by the QUAD alliance (Australia, United States, Japan, India) in 2017. It was subsequently adopted as a key pillar of Australian foreign policy as observed by the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, which states that no long-term objective is ‘more important’ than ensuring a peaceful and cooperative region. 

Stability in the Pacific faces its most ‘challenging and strategic environment’ against China’s lack of transparency in policy objectives, coercive tactics, and forceful conduct in territorial disputes. Talisman Sabre is expected to be spied on by Chinese vessels, as Chinese surveillance ships have been detected watching activities during the last four Talisman Sabre operations. To counter this, Australia actively monitors the presence of Chinese military in the area and adjusts their scopes or procedures accordingly. 

The expansion of Talisman Sabre 2025 highlights a growing disparity between Australians' front and back facing relationship with China - namely, that Australia pursues strong deterrent capabilities whilst maintaining friendly relations with Chinese leadership.  

The commencement of this years’ tests coincided with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s six-day visit to China and meeting with Chinese President Xi Jingping. The longer than usual trip received judgement from the Coalition, claiming it to be ‘indulgent’. Albanese defended these claims, insisting it was important to show ‘respect’ to the host country. Albanese attended the 8^th Australia-China Roundtable to review the China Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) and signed an agreement between Tourism Australia and Trip.com to platform Australia as a tourist destination.

The genial tone of the trip was supplemented by press moments of Albanese walking on the Great Wall of China and visiting a panda sanctuary. The trip faced further criticism that it didn’t deliver any ‘tangible benefits’ such as reducing the number of Chinese navy forces on Australian shores. As Talisman Sabre commenced in Australia, the Albanese Government’s strategy was clear: Australia is playing a delicate balance, one where Australia pursues a relationship with China only on issues they consider to be of mutual interest. 

Despite the visit being reported as a ‘normalisation of bilateral relations’, there is a risk of this two-pronged approach backfiring.  On one hand, Australia is accelerating their defence against an aggressive expansionist state, to the extent of rehearsing drills in Papua New Guinea and engaging smaller Pacific nations to build their defence. On the other, Australia is seeking to ‘stabilise the relationship’ with a nation that has shown no ‘appreciable difference’ in the last decade. 

ASPI Senior Resident Fellow Raji Rajagopalan noted that China ‘rewarded’ Australia’s previous stabilisation efforts in February 2025 by sending warships around the Australian continent, a reminder of China’s constant surveillance and threat. It must be interrogated that whilst Australia has adopted a ‘cooperate where we can’ mindset, this approach will not result in an equal partnership in the face of a power seeking political and economic domination. 

Talisman Sabre 2025 signals an advancement in regional protection in response to a growing aggressor. This strategic direction should receive undivided hard and soft investment. Australia must consider their primary needs and its corresponding demands before continuing a concurrent approach to regional alliances and security.

Isha Desai is a writer, researcher and analyst, graduated from the University of Sydney in Politics and International Relations. She was the 2024 Indo Pacific Fellow for Young Australians in International Affairs (YAIA) and currently works in social impact policy at Penguin Random House ANZ.