Beijing envoy’s security overstretch as defence becomes election issue

As China asserts itself as the dominant regional power, circumnavigating Australia for no good reason apart from intimidation and showing its naval prowess, the coming election needs a khaki colour. The first major defence commitment of the campaign has come from Peter Dutton and it is a good one, promising that Australia would buy an extra 28 F-35 joint strike fighters under the Coalition, boosting the fleet to 100 aircraft. As the Opposition Leader said, Australia has long assessed the F-35A as the most capable fighter jet to meet the nation’s air power needs. The Coalition’s challenge will be the same as that faced by Labor if it pledges to lift military spending as demanded by the Trump administration. Mr Dutton is yet to provide financial details but would need an initial $3bn to fund the purchase, to secure the first of the jets within five years.

Responsibility for the fact Australia is woefully under-defended, in equipment and manpower, lies with both sides of politics. In office from 2013 to 2022, the Coalition had six defence ministers – David Johnston, Kevin Andrews, Marise Payne, Christopher Pyne, Linda Reynolds and finally Mr Dutton – from March 2021 to May 2022. None had the chance to gain traction. As Greg Sheridan warned in frustration in March 2021: “We must move fast. We won’t have the luxury of asking a potential aggressor to wait while we get ready.’’ As the Chinese warships headed for Perth on Sunday, possibly accompanied by a nuclear submarine, China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, increased pressure on the Albanese government to overturn its ban on Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke made the right call last month by banning the app from all government systems and devices after intelligence agencies assessed the software posed an “unacceptable risk” to national security. But writing in The Australian, Mr Xiao said severing supply chains had no future. “Small yards with high fences” would only lead to self-isolation, he said. Mr Xiao claimed Australia was “overstretching” the definition of national security risk. That is Australia’s call to make, not China’s.

Nor did Mr Xiao attempt to hide his or China’s arrogance last week after 49 commercial flights over the Tasman had to be diverted as a result of live-fire drills conducted off the Chinese flotilla as it navigated down Australia’s east coast. He said China had nothing to apologise for because the exercises were “part of the efforts to train, to practise and to rehearse … there should be no over-reading into this”. He did not elaborate on what the vessels were practising and rehearsing for.