AUSTRALIA’S NEW DEFENCE PLAN
Australia earmarks A$270b for next decade, eyes end of US hegemony, rise of an assertive China
AUSTRALIA announced an assertive new defence strategy yesterday, beefing up its long-range strike capabilities and cyber-warfare efforts amid escalating tensions with China.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison earmarked A$270 billion for new and upgraded defence capabilities in the next decade, a nearly 40 per cent increase, saying the defence force would significantly shift its focus to projecting military power across the Indo-Pacific.
“We must face the reality that we have moved into a new and less benign strategic era,” he said in a major policy speech, eyeing the end of unquestioned United States hegemony and the rise of an increasingly assertive China.
“Even as we stare down the Covid pandemic at home, we need to also prepare for a postCovid world that is poorer, that is more dangerous and that is more disorderly.”
Australia’s government has committed to spending at least two per cent of its gross domestic product on defence, as US President Donald Trump has angrily demanded of allies, and plans to spend almost 40 per cent more on weapons systems over the last defence review in 2016.
The country will acquire a more powerful strike capability that can hit targets thousands of kilometres from Australia, starting with the US’ AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile.
It will also invest in newer platforms, like drones, and boost research into hypersonic and direct energy weapons like lasers.
While acknowledging the nation of 25 million people cannot match its rivals in the region — China officially plans to spend US$178 billion on defence this year alone — Morrison framed Australia as a regional power committed to an “open, sovereign Indo-Pacific, free from coercion and hegemony”.
Though Morrison said Australia remained prepared to send troops further afield “where it is in our national interest to do so”, he underscored that could come at the cost of the country’s ability to respond to threats from and in its own backyard.
Australia has fought alongside the US in every major war of the last century, often in areas far from its shores.
The announcement marks a significant shift in Australia’s defence posture and will be widely seen as an effort to counter Beijing’s growing influence in the region.
As part of the strategic pivot, the Australian Defence Force will focus on building “stronger deterrence capabilities” to raise the cost for any would-be aggressor and concentrate on the immediate region over operations further afield, Morrison’s said.
It also follows Morrison’s “Pacific Step-Up” policy, announced in 2018 to rebuild support among regional allies drifting toward Beijing, which has seen his government ramp up diplomatic engagement and offer greater financial aid to its developing neighbours.
“We want a region where all countries, large and small, can engage freely with each other, guided by international rules and norms,” he said yesterday.