Miranda Live: US ambassador to Australia Admiral Harry Harris to maintain ‘hard line on China’
THE appointment of a “China Hawk” as the newest US ambassador to Australia is good news for an Australia that could find itself under increasing pressure to align itself with the Chinese, a former Trump adviser has told Miranda Devine’s online radio show Miranda Live.
THE appointment of a “China Hawk” as the newest US ambassador to Australia is good news for an Australia that could find itself under increasing pressure to align itself with the Chinese, former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka says.
The former Deputy Assistant to President Donald Trump spoke with Miranda Devine’s online radio show Miranda Live today, saying Admiral Harry Harris’s appointment as US ambassador to Australia was in direct response to China’s growing influence in the Pacific.
MIRANDA LIVE: Listen to the interview
“The hard line with regards to China is being maintained by the president — (the appointment) sends a very clear message that our relationship with Australia remains a very close one and we’re not going to allow China to intimidate our partners, our friends, our allies or anybody in the Pacific region,” Mr Gorka told Devine.
“It’s good news for Australia, it’s good news for the West.”
MIRANDA LIVE: Gorka points finger at The Swamp for Turnbull-Trump leak
The White House announced vocal China critic Admiral Harris as the new ambassador to Australia over the weekend.
He’s a decorated naval officer who commands the US Pacific Command out of Hawaii and has made headlines in recent years for condemning China over its expansion in the South China Sea.
Mr Gorka told Devine China’s growing influence was a real thing we should be concerned about.
LISTEN TO LAST TIME GORKA SAT DOWN WITH MIRANDA LIVE:
“If you think of tributary states — China wants countries that are vassals or paying tribute to them and it has a very simple plan,” he said.
“It’s called One Belt, One Road and its plan is that by 2049, the 100 year anniversary of the Communist Revolution, they are the pole power in the world.
“They have a hegemonic agenda and wish to displace the US.”
Admiral Harris is no stranger to Australia and during a recent speaking engagement in Australia he condemned China for creating a “great wall of sand”, referencing the construction of new artificial islands.
In a statement, the White House described the naval officer as a “combat proven Naval officer with extensive knowledge, leadership and geopolitical expertise in the Indo-Pacific region” who has “served in every geographic combatant command and has held seven command assignments” during his 39-year career.
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