US call for help battling China

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the US-Australia alliance is ­entering a new era in the face of a rising China.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan with Scott and Jenny Morrison at Kirribilli House in Sydney. Picture: Adam Taylor

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the US-Australia alliance is ­entering a new era in the face of a rising China, declaring “the time is right” for both nations to step up joint efforts to meet security challenges posed by Beijing’s attempts to extend its influence in the Pacific.

Drawing parallels with joint US-Australian efforts to push back against the Soviet Union in the ­Pacific during the Cold War, Mr Pompeo said yesterday a ­“deter­mined effort” was required to “band together” on China.

“The time is right because the challenge China presents to us in the region is upon us, whether that is the militarisation of the South China Sea or their Belt and Road Initiative,” Mr Pompeo told The Australian.

He was speaking after the ­annual AUSMIN summit in Sydney where he and new US Defence Secretary Mark Esper held high-level talks with their Australian counterparts, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds.

Mr Pompeo foreshadowed two early tests of an enhanced relationship between Washington and Canberra, as he signalled it was time for Australia to step up its ­Pacific role as a nation that was leaving its rank as a “middle power” and becoming a key player in the region.

He said no decision had been made on the US’s planned location of mid-range missiles in Asia, but he did not rule out the possibility they could be placed in northern Australia, in addition to existing US military bases on Australia soil and the deployment of 2500 US marines in Darwin.

“It is, of course, the case that when we employ these systems around the world with our friends and allies, we do so with their consent ... and mutual benefit,” Mr Pompeo said.

Putting US missiles on Australian soil would most likely spark considerable local debate about the risk of inflaming tensions with China, and of Australia ­becoming a more obvious military target for Beijing in the event of a confrontation with the US.

The second and more immediate test foreshadowed by Mr Pompeo was the Trump adminis­tration’s request that Australia join a US-led “global coalition” to protect shipping in the Persian Gulf.

Mr Pompeo urged the Morrison government to accept the formal US request for Australia to be part of an international operation guaranteeing the safe escort of civilian shipping, following the seizure of a British tanker last month by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Declaring Washington’s hopes that Australia would “partner with us” on some of the most pressing foreign policy issues of the time, the Secretary of State stressed that joint action was necessary to stop further “unprovoked attacks on international shipping” by Iran.

Canberra has given no commitment on joining the proposed ­coalition, but Senator Reynolds confirmed the request was being given “serious consideration”.

She said the US request for help in a joint gulf escort operation was “serious” and “complex” and Australia would “decide what is in our own sovereign interests”.

Mr Pompeo said the “moment” had arrived when nations such as US and Australia, which shared a common set of values and valued democracy and the rule of law, needed to “band together”.

His strongly worded comments followed AUSMIN talks that ­focused heavily on China’s efforts to exert greater military and economic influence across the Pacific.

Mr Pompeo said the rise of China was ushering in a new era in the century-old US-Australia ­alliance but he said both countries had jointly met such major challenges in the past.

“It took many, many years for us to jointly push back against the Soviet Union (and it took) a long time to develop systems that prevent terror campaigns throughout the world,” he said. “Neither of our two countries have ever stepped away from responsibilities even if those responsibilities required years and years of hard work and determined effort.”

Mr Pompeo said the US was a “Pacific nation” and it was here to stay. “I want Australians to know they can always rely on the United States of America,” he said.

Mr Esper also yesterday signalled a tougher stand on China with help from Australia, saying in comments directed at Beijing that “no one nation can or should dominate the Indo-Pacific”.

“We also stand firmly against a disturbing pattern of aggressive behaviour, destabilising behaviour, from China,” he said.

He accused China of using “predatory economics” and “debt” to reach savage deals with Pacific Island and other nations, and blasted Beijing for state-sponsored “theft” of other nations’ intellectual property. “The US will not stand by idly while any one nation attempts to reshape the region to its favour at the expense of others,” Mr Esper said.

The AUSMIN summit came at a time of growing tensions in the US-China relationship, with US President ­Donald Trump threatening a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods and the US confirming yesterday that it was considering deploying ground-based conventional missiles in Asia — a move that would anger Beijing.

Mr Pompeo praised Australia for adopting a more assertive stand against China on issues ranging from 5G technology to foreign interference to trying to curb Chinese meddling in the South ­Pacific, but “more could be done”.

“There is definitely more we can do,” he said about tackling China’s efforts to breach inter­national norms on issues of sovereignty in the South China Sea and elsewhere in the region.

“Enforcing these international norms is an important task and one that the US and Australia need to be sharply engaged in.”

He said both countries needed to ensure “the rules that the world has used for 100-plus years now, democratic institutions that have done so much good for the people of the US and the people of Australia, will be the world that governs trading systems and ­security systems for the decades to come”.

Mr Pompeo urged Australia not to fear economic retribution from Beijing — Australia’s largest trading partner — merely because Canberra supported fair trade and respect for sovereignty.

“Australia has made enormous progress, it is now a big country with important economic relationships all across the world,” he said. “It continues to increase day by day and year by year, and as a result of that, the expectations that the world places upon it increase as well, and rightly so.”