{"id":43786,"date":"2018-11-22T14:50:42","date_gmt":"2018-11-22T03:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=43786"},"modified":"2018-11-22T14:50:42","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T03:50:42","slug":"forward-defence-in-depth-for-australia-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/forward-defence-in-depth-for-australia-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Forward defence in depth\u2019 for Australia (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In an interesting, and highly significant, recent statement, China\u2019s Foreign Affairs spokesman, Lu Kang, challenged Australia\u2019s traditional perception that the South Pacific is within its sphere of influence. He stated<\/a> that, \u2018The Pacific islands are no \u201csphere of influence\u201d for any country\u2019, and employed the traditional rhetoric of Chinese government communiqu\u00e9s, asserting, \u2018We hope that the relevant parties could discard the outdated mindsets of Cold War mentality and zero-sum game [and] objectively view China\u2019s relations with Pacific island countries.\u2019<\/p>\n

The reality, of course, is that China is determined to challenge<\/a> the US\u2019s strategic primacy across the Indo-Pacific, and seeks to replace<\/a> the established rules-based order with a Chinese-led system that would diminish, and then ultimately eliminate, America\u2019s influence in Asia. China\u2019s increasing involvement in the South Pacific through the Belt and Road Initiative<\/a> is an important component of the emerging strategic contest and a challenge to Australian security.<\/p>\n

Those signing up to the BRI (the Victorian government<\/a> should take note) must understand that there\u2019s no such thing as a free lunch. Small states in the South Pacific, burdened with Chinese debt they can\u2019t pay back, risk watching as China\u2019s presence grows in their countries through its investment in infrastructure projects that, ultimately, it will control, once the debt trap<\/a> is sprung.<\/p>\n

Most worryingly for Australia, the BRI opens up the potential for a Chinese military presence in territories close to our eastern seaboard. Such a development would give Beijing greater opportunity for military coercion against Australia in a crisis.<\/p>\n

Given the risk a forward Chinese military presence would pose, Australia needs to consider updating its military strategy to one of \u2018forward defence in depth\u2019 throughout Indo-Pacific Asia, including into the South Pacific. Australia should not maintain a reactive military strategy that continues to rest on foundations established in the mid-1980s when our strategic outlook was far more benign.<\/p>\n

Forward defence in depth builds on the strategy outlined in the 2016 defence white paper<\/a> that was centred on three strategic defence objectives:<\/p>\n