AUSMIN talks: Secret defence plan with US to counter China; Darwin to get strategic fuel reserve

Australia, US establish a top-secret defence framework to counter China, with Darwin at centre of military plans.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the AUSMIN talks in Washington. Picture: AFP

Australia and the US have established a top-secret defence co-operation framework to counter Chinese military aggression, and put Darwin at the centre of future military plans with a new strategic fuel reserve for the city.

The classified defence framework, agreed at high-level talks in Washington, creates a new bilateral team to co-ordinate decisions on joint operations and the deployment of hardware and personnel across the Indo-Pacific.

The nations will also combat Chinese state-sponsored disinformation campaigns through a new joint working group, and support regional partners to reduce the risks of new pandemics arising from wildlife wet markets.

Linda Reynolds, left, Marise Payne, Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper at the AUSMIN talks in Washington. Picture: AFP

The AUSMIN talks, between Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, and their US counterparts Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper, focused almost entirely on the growing regional threat posed by China.

Amid Chinese trade sanctions and threatened consumer boycotts of Australian products, Mr Pompeo said the US stood firmly alongside its ANZUS ally in the face of bullying by Beijing.

He said the US commended the Morrison government “for standing up for democratic values¬ and the rule of law, despite intense continued coercive pressure from the Chinese Communist Party to bow to Beijing’s wishes”.

“The burden Australia has undertaken to uphold democratic values is not yours to bear alone,” Mr Pompeo said.

“The US knows the threats that you and the rest of the free world face. The US stands with you in our unbreakable alliance.”

Senator Payne said the Australia-US relationship was built on shared values, including commitment to the rule of law and a respect for human rights.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne. Picture: AFP

But she said Australia — which counts China as its biggest trading partner — would make its own decision. “Most importantly from our perspective, we make our own decisions, our own judgments, in the Australian national interest, and about upholding our security, our prosperity, and our values,” Senator Payne said.

Australia stood firm during the talks on resisting US pressure to join freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea within 12 nautical miles of disputed Chinese-claimed features.

But both nations committed to “increased and regularised maritime co-operation” in the region, and in the Indian Ocean, with like-minded partners.

They also flagged the possible expansion of annual joint training with US Marines in Darwin to include other friendly nations “to bolster regional relationships and capabilities”.

The final AUSMIN statement revealed that the nations’ future military activities in the region would be determined under the new classified statement of principles on alliance defence co-operation and force posture priorities in the Indo-Pacific.

The statement establishes a new force posture working group that will co-ordinate the nations’ Indo-Pacific military planning “to promote a secure and stable region and deter coercive acts and the use of force”.

United States Studies Centre research fellow Brendan Thomas-Noone said the new defence planning arrangements were the biggest development in the bilateral defence relationship since the annual stationing of US ¬Marines in Darwin began in 2012.

“This statement is clearly the next phase, which is trying to find new ways we can operate together and show our forces are interoperable and can work together to basically deter Chinese military adventurism in the region,” he said. “We are getting together to come up with new ideas about how we can complicate China’s military planning in the region.”

The AUSMIN statement said the establishment of a US-funded, commercially-operated strategic fuel reserve in Darwin would be a “a significant step toward strengthening the resilience of our supply chains”.

The $86.4m fuel storage facility will be constructed at Darwin Harbour, close to the Chinese-leased Port of Darwin.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the project would generate “a thumping lot” of jobs for the city.

Mr Gunner also opened the door to year-round deployments of US Marines in the territory, rather than the dry-season only annual rotation.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute defence and national security program director Michael Shoebridge said the fuel storage announcement “finally lances the boil on strategic fuel issues for Australia, notably in the north”. “This has been a very long pregnancy,” Mr Shoebridge said.

“The combination of China’s aggression and the vulnerabilities exposed by the pandemic have finally led us to do something about that.” He said there was a shared sense of urgency on the need for closer defence co-operation, acknowledging the region was facing strategic challenges now, not in decades to come.

Defence Linda Reynolds. Picture: AFP

The nations also agreed to step up defence industry co-operation with measures to “enable greater maintenance, repair, overhaul, and upgrade of US military platforms and components in Australia”. The move is aimed at breaking down trade-related barriers which had prevented seamless industrial co-operation to build advanced missiles and munitions, and defence platforms.

The statement said the allies were committed to countering disinformation threats “vigorously” through a new working group between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the US State Department, which would monitor and respond to disinformation efforts.

Amid China’s security crackdown in Hong Kong, the joint AUSMIN statement said that “recent events” had “strengthened their resolve to support Taiwan”.

In a separate AUSMIN global health statement, the nations committed to helping less-developed countries lift their capacity in biosecurity, biosafety and bio-surveillance, to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. “We will work with countries in the region to improve hygiene conditions, and mitigate zoonotic disease and pandemic risks associated with wildlife wet markets,” it said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AMOS AIKMAN