Anthony Albanese has been given fair warning by US officials that he shouldn’t turn up to his first in-person meeting with Donald Trump empty-handed on defence spending.
The spectre of a regional and global conflict sparked by Xi Jinping invading Taiwan by 2027 is being taken seriously by officials in Australia, the US, The Philippines, South Korea, Japan and Europe.
After the Albanese government squibbed it on defence in its March 25 pre-election budget, there is scope for the Prime Minister to lift spending and show our allies we mean business.
Ahead of meeting with Trump at the White House in February, British Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer cut his foreign aid budget to lift defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP from April 2027, with an ambition to reach 3 per cent in a second term.
At risk of being caught up in a wider regional conflict, Japan has lifted its defence spending to record levels.
In his meetings with Defence Minister Richard Marles, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth directly urged his counterpart to lift Australia’s defence spending.
With Trump committing to a 13 per cent increase in US defence spending, Hegseth used his Shangri-La Dialogue speech in Singapore as a clarion call for allies and partners to “seize this moment with us”.
“Our defence spending must reflect the dangers and threats that we face today. Because deterrence doesn’t come on the cheap – just ask the American taxpayer. Time is of the essence. We must step up and move out with urgency,” Hegseth said.
Trump’s trade war and focus on critical minerals are all about China.
While Trump has turbocharged the contest with Beijing, Joe Biden’s White House had moved aggressively in the same space. Biden was strident on the threats posed by Xi’s regime.
Albanese, who on Sunday publicly held the line on his government’s existing defence spending commitments, is a shrewd political operator.
Amid hopes of tariff exemptions, there is every chance he held back a bigger boost to defence spending until after the election to coincide with his Trump meeting at the G7 summit in Canada.
As the Prime Minister balances the security relationship with the US and economic ties with Australia’s biggest trading partner, some US officials have privately viewed certain members of the Albanese government with scepticism on China.
While Albanese and government ministers have been wooed by Xi and top Chinese Communist Party officials, Australia’s defence and security chiefs are in no doubt as to the threats and risks posed by the CCP and People’s Liberation Army.
Amid fears Xi could overstep the mark on Taiwan in pursuit of his legacy, Albanese knows the US is Australia’s longstanding friend, the world’s premier democracy and a bona fide military superpower.
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