Closer US military ties welcome

Talks aimed at deepening military co-operation between Australia and the US could hardly be more timely or appropriate. With Defence Minister Peter Dutton warning of the need to deter “the egregious forms of coercion and aggression” confronting our region, the importance of the ANZUS partners achieving the maximum possible training and operational capability has seldom been more compelling. Proposals being considered by both nations for enhanced military exercises on Australian soil, including joint training with US soldiers aimed at strengthening the interoperability of their forces, should go a long way towards meeting the growing strategic threats resulting from China’s aggressive drive to dominate the Indo-Pacific, supplant US military power and weaken Washington’s allies.

As Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings said, practical military co-operation with the US offers Australia the best immediate option to deter adversaries. The benefit for Australia would be a larger and more regular US military presence that would be “the best deterrence we can buy in the short term”. Enhanced joint training exercises would keep the US engaged in the region, requiring it to have an ongoing working military strategy involving Australia. With the Biden administration implementing the Trump presidency’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and simultaneously redeploy US troops and Patriot missile batteries from the Middle East, the importance of getting Washington more committed cannot be overstated. The Talisman Sabre exercises involving Australian and US forces as well as others from Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Britain are confirmation of the ANZUS alliance’s centrality to dealing with China’s belligerence.

They also show that Australia is far from alone in its stance on China. As Japanese ambassador Shingo Yamagami said on Wednesday, “every day Japan is struggling” in its relationship with China. He added: “You are doing an excellent job. We are in the same boat and we should work together. I applaud the way Australia has faced up to tremendous pressures in a consistent, principled and resilient manner.”

To his credit, Joe Biden has made clear his determination to confront Beijing’s aggression and the threat it poses to US allies. Chinese malevolence and the plan being discussed for an enhanced US military presence on Australian soil is likely to be a major issue when Mr Dutton and Foreign Minister Marise Payne attend the forthcoming annual Australia-US Ministerial Consultations meeting with their American counterparts.

As Ben Packham reported, there is likely to be a further opportunity to do so after celebrations on September 1 marking the 70th anniversary of ANZUS, with Scott Morrison likely to be in the US to mark the event with Mr Biden. There is also the potential for a meeting of the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which rapidly is emerging as another key strategic alliance in countering Chinese aggression. The aim, as Mr Dutton said, is that “through military preparedness, we hone our collective readiness to respond to the direst of contingencies should they be realised”. How achieving that objective squares with what – as Mr Jennings pointed out – is likely to be more visits by US ships operating out of the Chinese-owned Port of Darwin remains to be seen. Beijing doubtless will react with its usual apoplexy to the prospect of even closer military ties between Washington and Canberra. But it would do well to recognise its own aggression has left the world’s democracies no alternative.

Its paranoia is likely to be fed further by a new paper published on Wednesday by Daniel Ward, one of the key architects of Australia’s foreign interference laws. He argued it was a mistake to make the laws “country agnostic”. To save money and slash red tape, he said, they should be focused on China and other “designated” authoritarian regimes. Given its unrelenting aggression, China should not be surprised by Mr Ward’s argument. Nor should it be surprised that close allies across the region and beyond are taking prudent steps to ensure they are ready to meet whatever contingency arises. Beijing’s belligerence demands no less.