Former prime minister Paul Keating has accused the Morrison government of “wantonly leading Australia into a strategic dead end” by needlessly provoking China and abandoning foreign policy independence to become a “fawning acolyte” of the US.

As Australia and the US mark the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS alliance, Mr Keating told The Australian Financial Review that “warmongering” directed at Beijing was motivated by American anxiety over China’s rise.