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Of course Australia is part of a larger world. The strategic landscape in the Indo-Pacific is intimately connected with the success of Ukraine in its efforts to resist Russian aggression. A threat to the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea is a threat to the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. It is important that Australia plays its global part and we are and, we will continue to do so.
But equally, the call for focus means that we simply have to make the difficult decision to keep the vast bulk of our effort in our region. This is what the world would expect of us. It is what our ally the United States does expects of us. But far more significantly and importantly it is where our national interest unambiguously lies. To make any other call would be to ignore the Defence Strategic Review at the first juncture and for Australia not to be taken seriously.
Our nation has a growing economic connection to the world. Trade is an increasing part of our national income. In 1990 trade represented 32 per cent of our GDP. By 2020 that had risen to 45 per cent of our GDP. Most of this trade is with our region: China, Korea and Japan being three of our top five trading partners. The great bulk of it is by sea.The optimistic assumptions that guided defence planning after the end of the Cold War are long gone. Our environment is characterised by the uncertainty and tensions of entrenched and increasing strategic competition between the United States and China; large-scale war has returned to the European continent; and conflict is once again gripping the Middle East.
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The optimistic assumptions that guided defence planning after the end of the Cold War are long gone. Our environment is characterised by the uncertainty and tensions of entrenched and increasing strategic competition between the United States and China; large-scale war has returned to the European continent; and conflict is once again gripping the Middle East.
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The National Defence Strategy states:
China has employed coercive tactics in pursuit of its strategic objectives, including forceful handling of territorial disputes and unsafe intercepts of vessels and aircraft operating in international waters and airspace in accordance with international law.
Australia no longer has the luxury of a ten-year window of strategic warning time for conflict.
The National Defence Strategy observes that the combined effect of this has seen our strategic environment deteriorate over the last twelve months.
Against this strategic backdrop, the National Defence Strategy emphasises the need for impactful projection that can enable a strategy of denial which in turn is capable of deterring a potential adversary from projecting force against Australia. This includes the capability to hold the military assets of an adversary at risk at greater distance from our shores.
Equally important, this strategy aims to ensure that Australia can work with our partners to help deter broader conflict in our region that would be disastrous for us all. In this way, the Government seeks to invest in a sustainable strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific. A balance where no state is militarily predominant, and in which no state judges that the benefit of conflict might outweigh the risks.
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Source: Australian Department of Defence
Speaker: The Hon. Richard Marles MP, Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
Format: Speech
China Policy Research 