Australia, US must boost defence, cybersecurity ties to counter China: report
Australia should boost cooperation with the United States in defence, cybersecurity and infrastructure development to ensure "strong and collaborative" leadership in the Pacific, a new report says, amid increasingly strained relations between Canberra and Beijing.
According to the report released Tuesday by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, the allies should jointly develop health care and digital infrastructure in developing Pacific nations and increase military cooperation amid "immense global disruption and unprecedented domestic pressures" exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
The report, titled "Bolstering resilience in the Indo-Pacific: Policy options for Ausmin after Covid-19", describes a "strategic environment" that has dramatically worsened amid a shifting balance of power resulting from declining US influence and an increase in China's use of "coercive statecraft".
"These developments threaten to bring about the establishment of a Chinese sphere of influence by reducing the access and influence the US, Australia and others have enjoyed," said the report, the release of which comes ahead of the annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (Ausmin) at an undetermined date later this year.
Canberra and Washington, allies under a mutual defence treaty signed in the aftermath of Word War II, should cooperate in Pacific nations "on joint projects which support the immediate pandemic response while advancing broader development outcomes in the region".
"Bilateral cooperation provides an opportunity for continued American engagement in the region with a comparatively smaller investment of resources, which can leverage Australia's pre-existing experience and relationships in the Pacific," it said.
The report, produced with funding by the Australian Department of Defence and arms manufacturers Northrop Grumman and Thales, also calls on the countries to improve their capabilities to counter state-backed disinformation, which it describes as an "urgent priority in light of China's aggressive use of disinformation during Covid-19".
Specifically, its authors said, state-led disinformation campaigns should be countered through the "rapid public identification of the problem" and "an emphasis on pre-emptive action and resilience-building".
Australia and the US should also secure access to critical minerals predominantly supplied by China at present for use in tech-intensive industries such as aerospace, automobiles and defence, the report said.
Its release comes at a particularly difficult time for Australia-China relations, which have been strained in recent years by disputes over issues including alleged Chinese interference in Australian politics and Beijing's assertive moves in the South China Sea.
In recent weeks, China has issued warnings against travel to or study in Australia due to a reported uptick in racist attacks against those with an Asian background, and introduced restrictions on Australian imports of beef and barley, moves widely seen as retaliation for Canberra's push for an inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic. Beijing has denied any link between the inquiry proposal and its trade measures and travel advisories.
A Chinese court also earlier this month sentenced an Australian man, Karm Gilespie, to death for drug trafficking, although Canberra has refrained from linking the case to the current tensions.
In a major foreign policy speech last week, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne accused Beijing of spreading disinformation that contributed to a "climate of fear and division when at a time like this what we need is cooperation and understanding".
China suspended imports from four major Australian beef suppliers on May 12, weeks after Beijing's ambassador warned of a consumer boycott in retaliation for Canberra's push to probe the origins of the coronavirus. Photo: AFP alt=China suspended imports from four major Australian beef suppliers on May 12, weeks after Beijing's ambassador warned of a consumer boycott in retaliation for Canberra's push to probe the origins of the coronavirus. Photo: AFP
On Friday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country was under sustained cyberattacks by a "sophisticated state-based cyber actor", without naming the country responsible.
Although Morrison did not attribute blame, Beijing hit out at anonymously sourced media reports accusing it of being behind the attacks. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the allegations were "completely baseless" and had originated from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think-tank part-funded by US arms manufacturers.
John Blaxland, a professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, said the United States Studies Centre report reflected a "growing consensus in Australia that, having invested enormously in its ties with the US over the better part of a century, there is an imperative to press the US to reimagine the nature and level of its engagement in the Indo-Pacific".
"It is premised on a belief that the US is not going away, it is not fading away and retains more resilience, resourcefulness and vitality than critics would concede," Blaxland said. "It is an ambitious plan and it might even resonate in Washington."
Zhao Tong, senior fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy in Beijing, said while Washington's influence and leadership had waned under President Donald Trump, Beijing had both pushed Canberra closer to Washington and failed to prepare for the fallout of its assertive foreign policy.
"The unprecedented international backlash against perceived Chinese aggression is not foreseen by Chinese leaders," Zhao said.
"Beijing has sought to warn its neighbours and draw red lines by demonstrating its will and capacity to impose pain, but those efforts have been hardly successful and are unlikely to work in the case of Australia. As China engages in competitive relations with more players in the region, it faces a new challenge of battling simultaneously on multiple fronts."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
