Australia’s decision to invite a Chinese warship to participate in upcoming naval exercises off its northern coast at Darwin signals a widening divergence with the United States on how to respond to Beijing’s expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea.
The US Navy, also involved in Exercise Kakadu later this month, recently canceled a similar arrangement for the People’s Liberation Army Navy to send warships to participate in the RIMPAC war games off Hawaii, which have just ended.
This was probably no surprise, as RIMPAC, reputedly the world’s biggest naval exercise, is a key cog in US efforts to form a security alliance against China. It involved personnel from 25 nations, including Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Australia.
“China’s behavior is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RIMPAC exercise,” the Department of Defense said with considerable understatement when it “disinvited” Chinese forces in late May.
In contrast, Canberra is promoting Kakadu as an opportunity to “generate active and effective security partnerships between Australia and our region.”
China will send “a major fleet unit”, thought to be a frigate, but will be excluded from live firing and other activities for “security reasons”, which may ease some of America’s misgivings about the PLA’s presence in Darwin.
The exercise will be staged amid intense lobbying by the Pentagon for the Australian navy to support US freedom of navigation patrols close to atolls China has established to assert its claim to most of the South China Sea.
US President Donald Trump declared in February he would “love” for Australia to participate in joint exercises in the area to contest these claims, outlined in Beijing’s so-called “nine-dash” line map.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Defense Minister Marise Payne informed their US counterparts Mike Pompeo and Jim Mattis at talks in the US late last month that they would not support any “unilateral” action against China.
Bishop said in an interview with News Corp that Australia had never conducted freedom of navigation patrols against any country and that it would be an “extraordinary step” to do so. This is the first time the Australian government has categorically ruled out entering the 12-mile territorial zone Beijing has declared around islands in the volatile maritime region.
Australian warships and surveillance aircraft regularly sail through the sea to assert right of passage, and are routinely challenged by the PLA. In April, Chinese ships confronted three Australian ships sailing to Ho Chi Minh City, in what was described as a “robust” stand-off close to southern Vietnam.
“We maintain and practice the right of freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the world … including the South China Sea, as is our perfect right in accordance with international law,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said, while refusing to comment on the actual incident.
The Royal Navy is also pressing for Australian ships to escort a Pacific fleet being formed around the newest British aircraft carrier, Queen Elizabeth.
Its deployment is expected to include freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea — a vital trade route for Western Europe, as well as Asia, through which an estimated US$5.3 trillion of trade travels annually.
“We are very much hoping and going to work together on deploying HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific and hopefully sailing side by side with Australian vessels,” British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said after a meeting of the two countries’ defense and foreign ministers in July.
Canberra has not commented, but has about two years to think about it.
So far Australia’s biggest commitment has been to step up surveillance, which helps keep Chinese ambitions in check without risking important economic relationships.
Turnbull announced in June that Australia will spend US$5.2 billion on six unmanned spy planes that will monitor the South China Sea and wider Pacific, feeding information to defense and intelligence allies including the US.
Whether this will be seen by Trump as enough of a contribution is debatable, as US security agencies are convinced China will raise the threshold by declaring an exclusion zone in the sea as soon as it feels capable of defending such a claim.
There is speculation that this could occur within the next year or so. The US has said it will not recognize a Chinese exclusion zone if it is established.
“Australia needs to work through its comfort level,” said US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randy Schriver, adding that “we want to see countries demonstrating” that they will resist China’s “assertiveness” in establishing territorial claims in the passageway.
At this point, however, Canberra is happy to remain within its own exclusion zone.
china will suffer most if they try US military to go for a war.
Terrorist in North America are treated far better than the China Communist Party is treating it’s own citizens who they claim are just trouble makers!
The free flow of trade has NEVER been an issue and is part of China wanting control of all of Asia! Too much blood and sacrifice during WW2 in the Pacific and USA will not allow the CCP to force out!
FAKE NEWS
Sailors in photo are US Navy.
Ivor Large your right sir, Chinese will shock to withness the more advance and more powerfull armaments
That’s no Royal Australian Naval vessel or crew on the photo heading the story. It’s a United States Navy crew on what looks like a 16in gun battleship, probabaly Iowa Class.
Robert Li No the CCP have only sent troops to crush students, invade Tibet, E Turkmenistan and put down any internal dissent.
PL (Puny Little) Army.
China is also interfering in many African countries, increasing the corruption.
Jason Jean China has the largest prison population in the world. It has 670 prison with around 1.5 million prisoners, including 19,000 juveniles. According to the Chinese Ministry of Justice there are 1.3 million prisoners in prison, which are often referred to as “reform through labor” camps. Another 260,000 are in slightly less harsh “reeducation through labor” prisons. These are regarded as labor camps.
People are still sent to re-education centers where they undergo brainwashing study sessions and are required to write daily “thought reports." Detainees are often kept their until the “change their thinking” and “raise their level of understanding." China also still uses state-run mental health hospitals to keep political prisoners
The way the US propagandists tell it. It is all one way, that only China benefitted from trade and US is losing all the way. Yes US companies like Apple, GM, Boeing, Starbucks, US farmers, and chip companies have been losing all the way and yet they are so stupid to continue doing business with China.
Oh, do not forget that US ripped off China and the world when it issues worthless fiat currency USDollar to " pay " for imports. The USD is not worth the paper it is printed on.
Lee McCurtayne
Don’t get too emotional. I was merely stating a fact. China has never interfered with people with their "badge of pride". We are a nation who respect and operate within international "rules based order", just as your foreign minister repeated ad nauseam, but never seemed to understand what her own words entailed.
We had never sent our troops to kill innocent iraqis, libyans, afghans, syrians, and many more, based on trumped up charges and fake evidence. I guess we just don’t have enough of the "convict" blood in us and too dumb to keep observing the "rules based order", while those who champion it are violating it left, right and centre.
Sigh!
Ivor Large don’t forget the U.S. and how they torture you and rob you of all your rights in Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba…and they do it very openly…and then they claim to be champions of human rights.