Pentagon ‘pressing’ Australia on potential Taiwan war role

US officials have asked Australia for a “clear sense” of what to expect in the event of war breaking out, new reports claim.

The Pentagon is pressing Australia and Japan to confirm what roles they would play in a potential war with China over Taiwan, according to reports out of America.

US defence official Elbridge Colby has been “pushing the issue” with Australian and Japanese counterparts in recent months, sources familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times.

Mr Colby, the undersecretary of defence for policy, is considered a China hawk and is leading a bombshell review of the $368 billion AUKUS pact.

Elbridge Colby has been turning the screw on his Australian counterparts. Picture: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

The “animating theme” of the discussions around Taiwan was “to intensify and accelerate efforts to strengthen deterrence in a balanced, equitable way”, one source claimed.

Mr Elbridge took to X after the Times report was published to say the US government was focused on an “agenda of restoring deterrence and achieving peace through strength”.

“That includes by urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense,” he wrote.

The Sydney Morning Herald cited an anonymous “senior US defence official” to report on Sunday that the Pentagon had asked Australia how AUKUS submarines would be used in US military conflicts.

“There’s a conversation about command structure, about alignment of assets. We would want, in any scenario, a clear sense of what we can expect from Australia,” they said, adding it was not just in relation to Taiwan.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived in Shanghai ahead of a six-day trip to China. Picture: Supplied/PMO

Australia has been under pressure from the Trump administration to raise defence spending but requests for commitments to war “caught Tokyo and Canberra by surprise” given the long-standing approach of “strategic ambiguity” taken by the US over Tawain, the Times reports.

Asked about the report on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said “the sole power” to commit Australia to war rested with the federal government.

He told host Patricia Karvelas “we don’t engage in or discuss hypotheticals” when asked if the government had given “a clear answer behind closed doors”.

“The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance … and that’s our position and it’s been long established.”

Donald Trump’s administration has pushed allies to up defence spending. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP

United States Studies Centre defence program head Peter Dean said Mr Conroy was

“absolutely right” to push back on Mr Colby’s reported demands.

“Colby needs to get his own house in order before he starts making demands of alliance partners. Alliances are also not transactional in this manner and no country should be giving away its sovereignty,” Professor Dean said.

“Any Taiwan scenario is purely hypothetical.”

The news came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived in China’s economic capital Shanghai on Sunday to begin a week-long visit.

Mr Albanese’s trip will include high-level talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing.

Penny Wong made strong comments about China’s military operations. Picture: Mohd Rasfan/AFP

He told reporters on arrival the Australian delegation “we will have important meetings about tourism, about decarbonisation of steel, about the full range of issues”.

“We know that one in four of Australia’s jobs depends on our exports, and China is our major trading partner, with exports to China being worth more in value than the next four countries combined,” he said.

The visit follows strong comments made by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Friday, in which she said China had chosen to “wield its strength” in a way that threatened national security.

“China continues to assert its strategic influence and project its military power further into our region,” she said.

“And we have seen the worrying pace of China’s nuclear and conventional military build-up, without the transparency that the region expects.”

Originally published as Pentagon ‘pressing’ Australia on potential Taiwan war role