Dutton must grasp Defence nettle at key strategic time

New Defence Minister Peter Dutton showed admirable forbearance on Sunday when he sent a strong message that Australia wants to work “collaboratively” with China to ensure peace in the Indo-Pacific. Mr Dutton’s constructive attitude gave the lie to claims in Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the Global Times that he is a “hawkish” warmonger who will “stir up” and “further meddle” in tensions over the South China Sea. Mr Dutton emphasised Australia’s willingness to “work very closely with countries like China” in “a very important partnership”. He also left no doubt that Australia will remain unrelenting in strongly defending our national interests and working closely with allies — the US, Japan and India — to help keep the region remains free from conflict: “We don’t want to do that in an antagonistic way, we don’t support militarisation of ports, we don’t support any foreign country trying to exert influence here via cyber or other means.’’

Mr Dutton, our ninth Defence Minister in 14 years, has started the job methodically, telling Sky News on Sunday he has called for full briefings on all of Defence’s major programs, including the $90bn Attack-class subs and $45bn Hunter-class frigates. They must be delivered on time and on budget, without “slippage” of Australian industry content, he said. Mr Dutton should bring strength and gravitas to the portfolio at a crucial time. On Saturday, Trump-era CIA director and US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told Greg Sheridan the CCP is trying to “undermine democracy everywhere ”. After four years at the heart of Washington’s efforts to deal with China, Mr Pompeo understands the challenge the world faces. His view is that the CCP “deeply believes its Marxist/Leninist ideology is the right ideology for the world” and that it wants to impose it.

Mr Pompeo sees the Quadrilateral Dialogue, involving the US, Australia, Japan and India, as critical in resisting Chinese ­domination. The chief method of coercion Beijing ­employed was economic power, he said, citing recent trade actions against Australia. But the Quad nations between them were powerful enough to resist such ­coercion, he said. The US and its allies needed to make it clear to the CCP its continued abrogation of its international responsibilities — including any military action against Taiwan — would come at an enormous cost. Emphasising that point must be an important goal of the multilateral global alliance of democracies President Joe Biden is building to confront China.

From its mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan to its latest attempts to inject itself into the affairs of the Middle East, President-for-Life Xi Jinping’s regime is seeking to challenge Western strategic interests around the world. On Australia’s doorstep, China is seeking to further its influence by taking advantage of fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic on small countries. China has donated 200,000 of its Sinopharm jabs to PNG, and is pushing Pacific island states to accept its vaccines.

In the Middle East, the unprecedented so-called “axis” with Iran demonstrates China’s determination to spread its security and strategic interests. Beijing will invest some $US400bn in a variety of Iranian projects, including nuclear power, ports and oil and gas, helping Tehran overcome US sanctions. In return, China will receive a steady supply of Iranian oil and a major new market for Chinese weapons, potentially to use against Israel. Chinese cyber capacity and missile technology are now likely to now find their way to an ayatollah, as Mr Pompeo warned. Beijing will also gain major port facilities in Iran, including two close to the entrance to the Persian Gulf, giving China a vantage point on the waters through which much of the world’s oil passes. It has already built a series of ports along the Indian Ocean that has created a “necklace of refuelling and resupply stations” from the South China Sea to the Suez Canal. It opened its first full overseas military base in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, in 2015.

In Australia, the Morrison government’s decision to establish missile manufacturing is one of our nation’s most important strategic decisions in decades, as Sheridan wrote last week. After a long trail of unimpressive defence ministers, Mr Dutton has a vital opportunity to make his mark. Should the government be returned in the next year, Scott Morrison would do well to keep Mr Dutton in the job for at least another full parliamentary term.