Australia unveils its first National Defence Strategy

Australia yesterday unveiled its first National Defence Strategy, signaling a new focus on deterring China’s “coercive tactics” in the Indo-Pacific region.

The 80-page document offers a gloomy assessment of Pacific security and sets out a massive increase in defense spending to retool Australia’s military to cope with the challenge.

“The optimistic assumptions that guided defense planning after the end of the Cold War are long gone,” Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said as he presented the new strategy.

Warning that “China has employed coercive tactics in pursuit of its strategic objectives,” the text describes an Australia vulnerable to foes strangling trade or preventing access to vital air and sea routes.

“We are a maritime trading island nation,” Marles said. “The invasion of Australia is an unlikely prospect in any scenario, precisely because so much damage can be done to our country by an adversary without ever having to step foot on Australian soil.”

Instead of focusing on maintaining a military that can do a range of tasks almost anywhere in the world, Marles said the focus would be on building a force that can protect Australia’s interests in its immediate region.

At the center of the strategy are plans to develop a fleet of stealth nuclear-powered submarines to triple key missile capabilities and develop a large surface combatant fleet.

“Having the most capable navy in our history will be at the heart of our projection and our strategy of denial,” Marles said.

As a share of GDP, defense spending is set to increase from about 2 percent now to 2.4 percent within a decade.

Australia predicted increased risk of conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the South and East China seas, or on the Indian border.

Marles said that old assumptions about how much time Australia would have to prepare for war were gone.

“Australia no longer has the luxury of a 10-year window of strategic warning time for conflict,” he said.

Asked about Canberra’s strategy at a regular briefing, Beijing urged Australia to “refrain from making accusations against China at every turn.”

“China poses no threat to any country,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) said. “We hope that the Australian side can view China’s development and strategic intentions in a correct light, abandon the Cold War mentality [and] do more to safeguard regional peace and stability.”