SYDNEY Australia will outline its defence plans next week, and its leaders are previewing a more assertive posture in which it can strike farther, faster while working with mid-size allies to reduce tensions as the United States and China square off.
The Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to lay out those proposals in response to a wide-ranging and secret defence review of Australias investment in modern military systems and logistics, and how they would fare in a sudden conflict.
The review examined how Australia could better integrate with its Aukus partners the United States and Britain, as well as its other allies, the government has said. The Aukus countries in March announced Australia would spend A$368 billion (S$329 billion) on nuclear-powered submarines, and will jointly develop hypersonic weapons to catch up to China.
British and US nuclear submarines will also start rotations through a Western Australian naval base in advance of the joint production of the Aukus nuclear submarine in the next decade.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell have said in recent days that Australian forces need to be capable of responding to potential adversaries whose weapons are faster, can strike farther and are more precise than in the past.
Changing that equation is crucial to the future of Australias military, they said.
In an address to the National Press Club on Monday, Ms Wong said the region should not be reduced to a binary competition between the US and China; Australia wanted to work with other middle-sized countries, including in South-east Asia, to deter aggression, she said.
America is central to balancing a multipolar region… We cannot just leave it to the US, she said.
Since 2017, after Australias top trading partner, China, began militarising islands in the South China Sea along vital trade routes, and the Trump presidency called into question the US commitment to international engagement, Australias foreign policy has focused on building a mesh of middle-sized democracies to balance Chinas rise.
It revived the Quad of Japan, India and the US, which will in August hold its Malabar naval exercise off the Western Australia coast for the first time. Australias largest joint land military exercise will be held in July involving 30,000 troops from 11 nations, with the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand observing.
Mr Campbell said Australias defence forces would enhance how they could operate alongside partners, but has ruled out foreign bases on its soil and will always retain control of its forces. The military will focus not just on territorial defence but national interests, including trade routes and submarine cables that connect the island to international telecommunications.
Ms Wong said Australia must avert war, and would not speculate on Taiwan, other than to say a conflict would be catastrophic for all.
The most important new assumption in the review is that Australia could come under attack with no warning from Chinese missiles, and that Chinese ships will operate far from their home shores, said Mr Michael Green, chief executive of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
Australia must be able to ensure sovereign decision making but be ready to fight tonight, Mr Green said.
Even as it beefs up its military, Australia says China will remain an important trade partner. More On This Topic Australian leaders welcome again in China as thawing ties raise hopes of trade breakthrough Australias ambitious nuclear submarine plan faces potentially insurmountable hurdles The Labor government, elected in 2022, has stabilised its diplomatic relationship with China, and trade blocks imposed by Beijing on about a dozen Australian exports from coal to timber are easing.
Two-way trade worth A$285 billion a year is dominated by Australian iron ore exports that China cannot easily replace.
Ms Wong has warned Australian exporters to diversify their markets, and said ties with China would not return to the heights of 15 years ago, nor would Australia be able to separate its strategic relationship with the United States from its economic relationship with China.
Australia, which supplies nearly half the worlds lithium, is seeking investment from allies, including Japan and India, for its emerging critical minerals industry to reduce global reliance on China, ministers have said.
One of the worlds top LNG exporters, Australias top gas customers last year were Japan, China and South Korea. REUTERS More On This Topic China and other risks lurking beneath the Aukus deal The Anglophone military alliance in Asia is seriously ambitious