CEO former Australian citizen Rupert Murdoch, News Corp:
The Australian, 14 March 2023
‘It’s more than one plus one plus one’, from the pen of Canberra Bureau Chief Joe Kelly
…..“The sum of the three is more than one plus one plus one in this case,” Mr Albanese said.
“And I think that the co-operation we’ve had is really exciting. “We see that this is an investment in our capability. At the same time, of course, we’re investing in our relationships in the region as well.
“And I’ve been talking with other leaders in the region, as well, explaining our position. And it’s been well-received and understood why we’re doing this. It builds on our long-term relationship.” Mr Sunak said the deal was “about our commitment to the Pacific region, which, even though it’s geographically a long way from where we are, it’s important in a way to demonstrate our commitment to the values that we hold dear as countries.” Mr Albanese began his day with a walk alongside Chief of Navy Mark Hammond, declaring: “It’s a new dawn in San Diego, and it will be a new dawn in Australian defence policy tomorrow.” Before his trip to the US for the AUKUS announcement, Mr Sunak expressed concern about China’s future direction and role in the international system.
“It’s a country with fundamentally different values to ours, and I think over the last few years it’s become increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad,” the British Prime Minister was quoted as saying in a report in The Wall Street Journal.
“It’s behaviour suggests it has the intention – but also its actions show it is interested in reshaping the world order. And that’s the crux of it.” Mr Sunak told The Wall Street Journal that threats to security were increasing. “The world has become a more volatile place,” he said. “What we need to do as allies is out-cooperate and out-compete our adversaries.” …..
‘Epoch-defining challenge’, from the pen of North Asia correspondent Will Glasgow
The hugely expensive project to acquire “world-leading” nuclear submarine capability – likely to cost hundreds of billions of dollars – is a key plank in the response by America and its allies to the massive build-up of the capabilities of China’s People’s Liberation Army over the past decade. Beijing last week further ramped up military spending by more than 7 per cent to more than $330bn. There is widespread support for the AUKUS project in Taipei. Lo Chih-Cheng, a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said Taiwan’s government saw the security pact as part of a crucial effort to change Beijing’s calculus on ever using force in an attempt to bring the self-ruled island under Communist Party rule.
“Your decision to acquire nuclear submarines and to build up strength in your defence capabilities is conducive to redressing the imbalance that is happening now in the region,” said Mr Lo, a government member of Taiwan’s foreign affairs and national security committee. “We may not be able to stop China’s continuing military expansion, but it is imperative for us to stop the continuation of this kind of military imbalance.” Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), also welcomed the submarine acquisition. “We welcome measures to address the future balance of power in the western Pacific. And we would like to see a stronger Western alliance in terms of military capability and technology,” said the KMT’s top international adviser Alexander Huang….
The Age, 14 March 2023:
A partnership on the front foot, from the pen of International editor Peter Hartcher
Australia-India relations are thriving, driven by a mutual mistrust of China and shared economic self-interest.
Among the countries this week raising their voices against Australia's plan for nuclear-propelled submarines, you will not hear India, the world's most populous nation and fastest growing major economy….
"India did not object to AUKUS when it was announced," explains a leading Indian strategic analyst, C. Raja Mohan, because "it had no reason to. Stronger deterrence against China on the east is welcome for India," says the senior fellow of the Asia Society Policy Institute.
If you wondered why Australia's relations with India are suddenly booming - beyond the stale comforts of curry, cricket and the Commonwealth - the shared imperative of deterring the Chinese Communist Party's adventurism is key. That is the only reason Australia is arming itself with nuclear-propelled submarines…..
CEO former Liberal federal treasurer Peter Costello, Nine Entertainment Co:
Be alert and alarmed, but don't be duped on China, from the pen of columnist Crispen Hill
Australians should take special heed of the analysis of the noted defence strategist Peter Jennings and then draw the exact opposite conclusion from his about what should be done.
Jennings, who for 10 years was executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and was a deputy secretary of the Department of Defence, was one of five defence experts lined up by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in a series titled Red Alert. Its aim was to provide a more public discussion about Australia's defence needs than what will come out of the secretive Defence Strategic Review. And it was widely taken up by other media.
The five's conclusion was to expect war with China sooner rather than later because China was determined to take over Taiwan by force if necessary. The US would then move militarily to defend Taiwan and Australia would have to join in.
Jennings pointed out that in the first 72 hours, China could fire missiles (with or without nuclear warheads) on the naval fleet bases in Sydney and Perth, on RAAF bases near Brisbane and Darwin, and on communications bases near Alice Springs and Exmouth, among other targets.
The five concluded that war with China was almost inevitable and Australia needed an urgent massive upgrade and spend on its military and must maintain and strengthen its alliance with the US.
Those conclusions defy logic. Surely if Australian cities are going to be bombed because we are mad enough to follow the US blindly into a conflict that has nothing to do with us, the better course of action would be not to follow the US into that war and to loosen the ties with the US so that Australia could have its own defence policy and aims.
And the main aim should be to avoid war…..
BACKGROUND
X-Services News Pty Ltd
Australian Veteran News, 1 December 2021:
Made in Taiwan: Scott Morrison has concocted a phony war with China to take to the next election from the pen of Leo DiAngelo Fisher
“Even as Australia licks its wounds from the ignominy of the fruitless war in Afghanistan, arguably Australia’s most pointless war, the Morrison government is paving the way for a costlier, deadlier and even more contentious conflagration. This time the trumped up military foe is China….
Antagonising China – never a difficult task – has been a hallmark of the Morrison government. At first blush this might easily be attributed to the government’s diplomatic and foreign policy ineptitude. And there is that. Morrison is not a deep thinker on most fronts and especially when it comes to foreign affairs. This is a government that has wantonly sidelined diplomats and policy experts within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – how else to explain the AUKUS debacle? – in the belief that every decision by a government is political and in the moment.
There is none so one-dimensionally political as Scott Morrison. Morrison is not a prime minister troubled by the “vision thing”. His vision rarely extends beyond the next set of headlines. For Morrison, each day is a stepping stone to the next election.
That is the only prism through which the Morrison government’s incessant goading of China can be viewed. Australia’s historical bogeyman of choice, the “yellow peril”, has been reprised with unblushing enthusiasm by this government.
The Morrison government has deliberately and relentlessly fanned tensions with China: the more it riles China, the angrier China becomes, the more tangible the threat of war becomes.
Dutton used his recent National Press Club address to raise the prospect of war with China over the future of Taiwan.
Under Dutton’s Doomsday scenario, an “aggressive” China is poised to invade Taiwan, which it considers a renegade territory. Left unchallenged, an emboldened China would inevitably seek to wrest control of the disputed Senkaku Islands, currently administered by Japan, in the East China Sea.
“If Taiwan is taken, surely the Senkakus are next,” Dutton gratuitously speculated with overtones of the discredited “domino theory” of the 1950s and 60s, which mired the West, including Australia, in futile conflicts in Indochina.
Such was the ominous tenor of Dutton’s address as he mounted the case against China.
