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Australia defense spending hike aims at China
Australia unveils new $185 billion budget for long-range missiles, space capabilities and other high-speed defense technologies
By ALAN BOYDJULY 1, 2020
Australia ramps up defense spending as relations with China deteriorate. Image: Facebook.
SYDNEY — Australia has announced a major shift in its defense strategy to challenge China’s threat in the Indo-Pacific, with US$185 billion newly budgeted for long-range missiles, satellite surveillance and other counter-measures.
Likely to be supplied by the US over the next ten years, the weapons will not boost defense spending in real terms, but will bring a more aggressive mindset and capability of launching strikes well beyond the country’s borders.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said today (July 1) in an address to armed forces personnel that maintaining a “largely defensive force” won’t be adequate to deter attacks against Australia or its future interests.
“There is a new dynamic of strategic competition, and the largely benign security environment Australia has enjoyed roughly from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the global financial crisis is gone. The risk of miscalculation — and even conflict — is heightening,” he warned.
Morrison described the defense capability as having three key objectives: shaping Australia’s strategic environment, deterring actions against its interests and responding with credible military force when necessary.
“In this update, the government has directed Defense to prioritise the ADF’s [Australian Defense Force] geographical focus on our immediate region – the area ranging from the north-east Indian Ocean, through maritime and mainland Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and the South West Pacific,” Morrison said in his speech presented in Canberra.
Other than the US, Australia is likely to reach out to Asian allies Singapore, Japan and South Korea, and possibly India and Vietnam. It has a difficult relationship with neighboring Indonesia, but the countries have a shared mistrust of China and have been cooperating for years in counterterrorism programs.
In the Pacific, Canberra is trying to counter China’s influence in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, and views Papua New Guinea as a future strategic ally.
Asia Times Financial is now live. Linking accurate news, insightful analysis and local knowledge with the ATF China Bond 50 Index, the world's first benchmark cross sector Chinese Bond Indices. Read ATF now.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/asiatimes.com/2020/07/australia-defense-spending-hike-aims-at-china/
Australia unveils new $185 billion budget for long-range missiles, space capabilities and other high-speed defense technologies
By ALAN BOYDJULY 1, 2020
Australia ramps up defense spending as relations with China deteriorate. Image: Facebook.
SYDNEY — Australia has announced a major shift in its defense strategy to challenge China’s threat in the Indo-Pacific, with US$185 billion newly budgeted for long-range missiles, satellite surveillance and other counter-measures.
Likely to be supplied by the US over the next ten years, the weapons will not boost defense spending in real terms, but will bring a more aggressive mindset and capability of launching strikes well beyond the country’s borders.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said today (July 1) in an address to armed forces personnel that maintaining a “largely defensive force” won’t be adequate to deter attacks against Australia or its future interests.
“There is a new dynamic of strategic competition, and the largely benign security environment Australia has enjoyed roughly from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the global financial crisis is gone. The risk of miscalculation — and even conflict — is heightening,” he warned.
Morrison described the defense capability as having three key objectives: shaping Australia’s strategic environment, deterring actions against its interests and responding with credible military force when necessary.
“In this update, the government has directed Defense to prioritise the ADF’s [Australian Defense Force] geographical focus on our immediate region – the area ranging from the north-east Indian Ocean, through maritime and mainland Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and the South West Pacific,” Morrison said in his speech presented in Canberra.
Other than the US, Australia is likely to reach out to Asian allies Singapore, Japan and South Korea, and possibly India and Vietnam. It has a difficult relationship with neighboring Indonesia, but the countries have a shared mistrust of China and have been cooperating for years in counterterrorism programs.
In the Pacific, Canberra is trying to counter China’s influence in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, and views Papua New Guinea as a future strategic ally.
Asia Times Financial is now live. Linking accurate news, insightful analysis and local knowledge with the ATF China Bond 50 Index, the world's first benchmark cross sector Chinese Bond Indices. Read ATF now.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/asiatimes.com/2020/07/australia-defense-spending-hike-aims-at-china/
