Call to beef up Aussie defence
A group of former senior officials at the Department of Defence has issued a call for a ‘‘radical’’ overhaul of defence policy to confront the potential threats posed by a surging China and disrupted world order.
The major rethink being pushed by the former officials would involve increased military spending to make Australia more self-reliant as China’s armed forces rapidly develop and as concerns grow about the reliability of the United States as an ally.
‘‘We’re seeing a redistribution of power across the region as a result of economic development, equalisation of technology and increased spending on defence,’’ said Brendan Sargeant, until recently an associate secretary at the Department of Defence and now honorary professor at the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.
‘‘That means our relative power is going to reduce over time unless we do something about it. If we want to maintain our position or respond to strategic risk, we’re probably going to have to spend more.’’
Sargeant said defence policy needed to adapt to protect Australia’s interests in a period of ‘‘disruption and transition’’ where the future is uncertain and state-on-state conflict is a growing risk. He said the US had begun ‘‘disrupting the global system’’ under President Donald Trump, who has undermined global institutions and triggered trade disputes since taking office in 2017.
Paul Dibb, an emeritus professor at the ANU and former deputy secretary at Defence, said Australia faces ‘‘the prospect of a potential adversary – with whom we do not share values – operating in our neighbourhood and capable of threatening us with high intensity conflict’’.
Dibb said China’s militarisation of the disputed South China Sea meant the Chinese military now had three airstrips capable of supporting fighter aircraft and bombers.
‘‘That has brought China’s military capabilities 1300 kilometres closer to Australia’s vulnerable northern approaches,’’ he said.
Richard Brabin-smith, another former deputy secretary at Defence, has warned the advancement of the Chinese military means Australia will have less time to respond to threats that arise.
The policy shift would follow similar repositioning from the United States, which this year elevated competition with China and Russia as the Trump administration’s national security priority, labelling them ‘‘growing threats’’ and ‘‘nations that seek to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models’’.
The former Australian officials’ push – to be outlined at the ANU last night – comes as the Chinese government signals a thaw in relations between Beijing and Canberra after a tumultuous period under former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Following a meeting between Foreign Minister Marise Payne and her counterpart Wang Yi at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, the Chinese foreign ministry released a warm statement seemingly reaching out to Australia as a trade dispute between China and the United States intensifies.
‘‘The commonality between the two sides is far greater than the differences.
‘‘China has noted that the new Australian government has expressed its willingness to adopt a positive China policy . . . China is willing to rebuild mutual trust with the Australian side,’’ Mr Wang was quoted as saying.
The positive language is in stark contrast to statements issued following previous meetings amid tensions over China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, Australia’s legislation to curb foreign interference in politics, and growing Chinese development loans in the Pacific.
The apparent optimism about Prime Minister Scott Morrison is also a shift from recent Chinese criticism of the government’s decision – announced by Morrison as treasurer in the midst of the Liberal leadership crisis – to ban telecom giants Huawei and ZTE from involvement in Australia’s rollout of 5G technology.
– Fairfax