China Panic; Australia’s Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering
David Brophy
Black Inc: 2021
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Australia has never lacked confidence in its diplomatic ability. A middle-size power economically, its leaders and diplomats have strutted the world stage confidently, proposing initiatives or trying to broker agreements. But in mid-2021, with relations with its most important trading partner already at their lowest ebb in decades, one of its longest-standing allies recalled its ambassador from Canberra in protest at the way in which Australia had joined a new trilateral defence agreement with the US and UK.

A layman could be forgiven for being puzzled as to the purpose of the new tripartite treaty, nicknamed Aukus (presumably because the more euphonious Ukusa refers to an existing ‘intelligence sharing’ agreement between the UK and USA), given that Australia is already in a military alliance with the US (the Anzus treaty). For good measure, the UK is unable even to send its new flagship aircraft carrier on a Pacific cruise without the support of a Danish escort vessel and US aircraft on board, so is hardly in a position to contribute to Australia’s defence.

The treaty, so its backers tell us, is in response to increasingly assertive behaviour by China, especially in the South China Sea. But Chinese policy and behaviour have been remarkably consistent over the past quarter-century, or even longer, in marked contrast to the wild pendulum swings in Western policy towards China over the same time.

• Tags: Australia, David Brophy, Issue 25, Michael Reilly