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Australia rejects proposal to base a US nuclear aircraft carrier group near Perth , The Independent, KATHY MARKS    03 AUGUST 2012 Australia, which tries to tread a fine line between supporting its closest ally, the US, and not upsetting China, its biggest trading partner, yesterday rejected a proposal to base a US nuclear aircraft carrier group near Perth,saying it did not want American bases in the country.

The idea was raised in a Pentagon-commissioned report by the influential Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, which suggested relocating a carrier and its support fleet from the US east coast to HMAS Stirling, an Australian naval base south of Perth, as part of a new strategic focus on Asia.

But the Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, ruled it out, saying that
while negotiations were under way to increase US navy access to the
base, Australia would not be hosting a US aircraft carrier group,
which typically including submarines, destroyers and fighter jets. “We
have made it crystal clear from the first moment – we don’t have
United States military bases in Australia, and we’re not proposing
to,” he said.

Defence analysts said that was probably aimed at placating China,
which reacted coolly to an announcement last year that the US would be
rotating up to 2,500 Marines through Darwin. “I think they’ll [the
Australian government] be very careful not to risk further displeasure
from China by doing anything that suggests they’re supporting a US
military build-up in Asia,” Hugh White, head of the Australian
National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, told
Associated Press. The US, which has announced plans to shift the bulk
of its naval fleet to the Pacific by 2020, has been forging closer
military ties with countries in the region, in an effort to counter
China’s growing military strength. It already has a carrier strike
group based in the Japanese port of Yokosuka.

According to the report, it would cost more than $1bn (£644.7m) to
upgrade HMAS Stirling into a home port for a nuclear carrier that
would become the flagship of a strike group……. “There’s a concern
that the more the US builds up its military posture in the Western
Pacific as part of … [the] pivot to Asia, the higher the risk that the
US-China relationship will become more competitive, more adversarial,
more hostile,” Professor White said. “And that pushes Australia close
to the point of having to make a choice between the US and China, and
that’s something we badly want to avoid.”…. Australia still hosts a
top-secret joint US-Australian communications base at Pine Gap, in the
central desert. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australia-rejects-proposal-to-base-a-us-nuclear-aircraft-carrier-group-near-perth-8002078.html

August 4, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, weapons and war