AUSMIN: China concerns set to dominate as Australian ministers meet US counterparts
Australia's foreign and defence ministers met their US counterparts on Tuesday for key annual talks expected to focus on China's impact on regional security, amid growing calls for a united front to counter Beijing.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds arrived in Washington on Monday ahead of the latest Australia-US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN), as attitudes harden in both countries toward Beijing's increasingly aggressive policy in the Asia-Pacfic.
Payne and Reynolds, in a statement before their trip, said they would self-quarantine for 14 days on their return in line with Australian requirements for all international travellers.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper and the Australian ministers are expected to discuss a growing list of common concerns, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the South China Sea.
In a thinly-veiled critique of Beijing before their departure, Payne and Reynolds issued a joint statement highlighting "coercive actions" in the South China Sea and the new national security law in Hong Kong undermining the "rights, freedoms and futures of millions of people".
The statement, which did not mention China by name, also mentioned a rise in cyberattacks, disinformation about Covid-19, and moves by "authoritarian governments" to thwart hopes for an open and secure internet.
The talks mark the Australian ministers' first overseas trips since the start of the pandemic, after the Trump administration reportedly urged that the meetings take place in person instead of via video link.
US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Australian Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds are seen after the AUSMIN talks in Australia in 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Australian Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds are seen after the AUSMIN talks in Australia in 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE
Payne said on Saturday that face-to-face meetings were "essential" to address "strategic challenges and advance our shared interests in a secure, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific".
AUSMIN's anticipated agenda is the latest sign of the allies moving closer to a unified, tougher stance on China as relations between both capitals and Beijing sink to their lowest ebb in decades.
Canberra, which recently unveiled a new defence strategy backed by a 40 per cent rise in military spending, last week joined its treaty ally in formally declaring Beijing's expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea to be illegal.
The major policy shift followed the Trump administration's reversal last month of long-standing US policy not to take sides in disputes in the waterway between China and the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Brunei.
Beijing claims about 90 per cent of the South China Sea, which holds massive untapped oil and gas reserves and facilitates about one-third of global shipping, based on historical claims that an international tribunal in The Hague in 2016 ruled have no basis in international law.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is seen after joint talks with Australian counterparts in 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is seen after joint talks with Australian counterparts in 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE
"The release of the more forward-leaning Australian position on the South China Sea and release of Australia's defence strategic update will give Payne and Reynolds something to talk about, and to demonstrate Australia's strategic activism," said Euan Graham, Shangri-La senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies-Asia.
"Concern about China is the linking theme. This is potentially the last AUSMIN before a change of US administration, so Australia will be looking to set continuity as far as possible."
Bruce Haigh, a former Australia diplomat who served in South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, said there was concern about how China was "flexing its muscles" but accused Canberra of taking cues from Washington at the cost of economic and cultural relations with China.
"China does need to be matched and pushed back [against], but not with the Trump-Morrison blueprint," said Haigh, referring to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
"We don't know what Morrison has agreed to in his silly and ill-advised calls with Trump," he said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds walk past a military vehicle before announcing plans to increase defence spending. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds walk past a military vehicle before announcing plans to increase defence spending. Photo: EPA-EFE
Despite deepening alignment with Washington, Canberra has made clear its intention to differentiate its policies amid growing pressure by the Trump administration on its allies to support its hard line on China.
In a speech declaring US engagement with China a failure, Pompeo on Thursday called for a "new alliance of democracies" to counter Beijing. The speech, which came a day after the Trump administration ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston over alleged spying, did not specify which countries should participate in such a bloc.
During remarks in support of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea on Thursday, Morrison emphasised that all government policy was the result of "our own actions, our own initiatives and our own statements".
Australia, which sent nearly 40 per cent of its exports to China last year, has refrained from echoing the most hawkish rhetoric in Washington and resisted US pressure to join freedom of navigation patrols (FONOPs) within 12 nautical miles of features in the South China Sea claimed by Beijing.
Ashley Townshend, director of foreign policy and defence at the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre, said Canberra's tougher stance on China would remain distinct from US policy.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Photo: EPA-EFE
"Canberra will need to carefully calibrate its own, more assertive China policy, with the Trump administration's significantly more confrontational and escalatory approach," said Townshend.
"While the AUSMIN communique is likely to reflect Australia's heightened concern over the way that China is capitalising on the Covid-19 pandemic to prosecute a more aggressive regional strategy, it is unlikely to be as precise or stark in calling out Chinese behaviour as some in the Trump administration would wish."
Tong Zhao, senior fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy in Beijing, said Australia would continue to "struggle with striking a difficult balance between standing up to China's perceived aggression and avoiding antagonising a rising power".
"Another challenge facing Australia is to strike the right balance between developing an independent defence capability and relying on the defence alliance with the United States for its future security," said Zhao. "The Trump administration's reduced commitment to allies adds to this challenge."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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