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Australia kow tows, joining USA’s aggressive military stance in Asia Pacific

why is the Australian government co-operating in United States planning for the military containment of China? There is no threat to Australia

Stirling naval base south of Perth is set to become a major base for US operations in the region although details are not yet confirmed. Some reports suggest that US nuclear submarines may be based in Stirling.

The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) was set up recently with the expressed aim of organising against this gathering rush by the Australian government further into an unquestioning and subservient relationship with the US and its arms corporations.

AUSMIN confirms Australia’s subservience to US military, The Guardian, Denis Doherty, 20 Nov 12, AUSMIN, the annual talks between the Australian and US foreign and defence ministers, have come and gone for another year and the agreement reached makes depressing reading for Australians who want to live in peace and prosperity.

The AUSMIN communiqué outlines plans for the future benefit for US corporations at the expense of the people of
the Indo Pacific region. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta and their Australian counterparts Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Defence Minister Stephen Smith met for the AUSMIN talks on November 14 in Perth.

Before AUSMIN, elements of the US government leaked that the US was unhappy with Australian cuts to the military budget. The Guardian pointed out that this was bullying and asked how much does the US want? According to Minister Smith, Australia is already the second largest per capita spender on the military in the world. Australia spends $1.3 billion per annum on the Afghan war and provides almost 50 bases plus training areas for the US military at no cost.

Containing China The AUSMIN communiqué’s sweet language disguises the iron fist within. The main theme of the talks is clearly to strengthen the anti-China alliance by building up the importance of India.

Keeping Burma out of China’s influence by accepting it into the
Western camp and strengthening the Trans Pacific Partnership which
aims to exclude China from trade in the region are also part of the
superstructure being created to restrict China’s rise.
While claiming to “welcome a strong, prosperous and peaceful China,
which plays a constructive role in promoting regional security and
prosperity”, the document outlines how the US, with Australia’s help,
will pressure China.

The measures include:

Strengthening the tri-lateral alliance between Japan, Australia and US.
Persuading and bribing India into a firm commitment to a pro-US position.
Maintaining the Korean peninsula as a hot spot, ensuring that North
Korea is blamed for all tensions and South Korea is exonerated from
any responsibility for regional problems.
Professor Richard Tanter* points out:

“At a time when our relationship with China is closer than it has ever
been, why is the Australian government co-operating in United States
planning for the military containment of China? There is no threat to
Australia – other than that created by ill-considered and dangerous
reversion to Cold War attitudes.”…..

Australian impacts

The AUSMIN talks confirmed and deepened Australia’s expanding commitment to the US pivot to the Indo-Pacific and Asian regions. Support for the US-led war on Afghanistan is to continue, despite it not being in Australia’s interest.

Stirling naval base south of Perth is set to become a major base for US operations in the region although details are not yet confirmed.

Some reports suggest that US nuclear submarines may be based in Stirling. The spat last week, when senior Liberal figures argued
Australia should have nuclear submarines and were joined by the ALP’s
Joel Fitzgibbon, may be part of a “softening up” process.

More US-Australian exercises will be held and the Talisman Sabre war
games are set to become even bigger: “Strengthen and regularise whole
of government participation in the Talisman Sabre Exercise with a
strong Australian and US civilian agency participation in future
exercises to complement the high levels of defence cooperation and
interoperability demonstrated in the activity”. (AUSMIN communiqué)

The 2013 White Paper on Defence will proceed without any public
submissions on how we can cut military spending – a position supported
by over 70 percent of the Australian people.
Resistance

The time for more activity and resistance to these moves has arrived,
and Australians are responding. The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) was set up recently with the expressed aim of organising against this gathering rush by the Australian government further into an unquestioning and subservient relationship with the US and its arms corporations.

“The lessons of the past are ringing clear; we need to have an
independent and peaceful approach to our place in the Asia Pacific
region”, says Professor Tanter.

* Professor Richard Tanter is Senior Research Associate, Nautilus
Institute, and Professor in the School of Political and Social Studies
at the University of Melbourne.
http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2012/1574/06-ausmin-confirms.html

November 21, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, politics international, weapons and war