{"id":67449,"date":"2021-09-24T11:30:18","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T01:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=67449"},"modified":"2021-09-24T12:24:16","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T02:24:16","slug":"far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/","title":{"rendered":"Far from breaking with the past, AUKUS advances Australia\u2019s commitment to collective defence"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Canberra\u2019s announcement<\/a> that it will acquire nuclear-powered submarines through its new defence pact with London and Washington, AUKUS, has generated considerable scrutiny. The decision to expand<\/a> the basing and rotational presence of US forces in Australia has added to the heat. But in the breathless<\/a> commentary<\/a> on these moves, what they tell us about Australia\u2019s foreign and defence policy has been largely misunderstood.<\/p>\n

These announcements don\u2019t signal a new direction in Australian strategic policy or a reorientation of our alignment preferences away from the region.<\/p>\n

To the contrary, they mark an acceleration of Australia\u2019s push<\/a> to assume a larger and more active<\/a> geostrategic role in upholding a favourable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific\u2014both by acquiring advanced military and defence industrial capabilities and by supporting the strongest possible US security presence in our region, including through longstanding efforts to deepen high-end military integration between Australia and the US.<\/p>\n

The strategy behind these announcements isn\u2019t new either. It\u2019s articulated in Australia\u2019s 2017 foreign policy white paper and 2020 defence strategic update. Underscored by deep anxieties over China\u2019s growing power and assertiveness, and a clear-eyed assessment of America\u2019s eroding regional military position, these documents recognise that Washington can no longer defend the Indo-Pacific strategic order by itself. Together, they lay out the case for a stronger Australia and our pursuit of a collective regional strategy<\/a> to supplement America\u2019s position and constrain Chinese power.<\/p>\n

Look at the language. The white paper<\/a> talks about \u2018building a more capable, agile and potent Australian Defence Force\u2019 and working collectively with the US and like-minded partners to \u2018limit the exercise of coercive power\u2019 and to \u2018support a balance in the region favourable to our interests\u2019. The defence update<\/a> says that \u2018Australia [will] take greater responsibility for our own security\u2019 by growing our \u2018self-reliant ability to deliver deterrence effects\u2019, enhancing \u2018the lethality of the ADF for \u2026 high-intensity operations\u2019, and being more capable of \u2018support[ing] the United States and other partners\u2019 in our region \u2018if deterrence measures fail\u2019 and \u2018Australia\u2019s national interests are engaged\u2019.<\/p>\n

Both documents call for broadening and deepening Australia\u2019s cooperation with the US, including by enhancing force posture initiatives and military interoperability and by \u2018selectively increasing interdependence with the US and other partners\u2019 to assure our shared defence industrial, munitions and logistics supply chains.<\/p>\n

Those surprised by Australia\u2019s decisions haven\u2019t been paying attention.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is\u2014or should be\u2014much more to Australia\u2019s Indo-Pacific strategy<\/a> than this high-end alliance integration agenda. Shaping our strategic environment, deepening our regional partnerships and building our influence by supporting regional countries\u2019 own priorities are critical. Some of these elements are progressing well<\/a>, like our security networking with Japan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore. Others are worryingly underdone<\/a>, such as our investment in diplomacy, economic engagement and development assistance in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

But just because these issues and partnerships weren\u2019t at the centre of last week\u2019s announcements doesn\u2019t mean AUKUS or the US alliance are displacing<\/a> the other elements of our strategy.<\/p>\n

Indeed, it\u2019s worth remembering that the only revolution last week was Washington\u2019s once-a-century decision<\/a> to share its submarine nuclear-propulsion technology with an ally\u2014something Canberra has quietly wanted<\/a> for years, and a decisive capability upgrade<\/a>, but not a sea-change in the trajectory of Australian strategy.<\/p>\n

So why the hype about a purported Anglospheric pivot<\/a> and new dependency<\/a> on the alliance?<\/p>\n

One explanation lies in the confusing pomp and ceremony<\/a> that accompanied the made-for-television AUKUS announcement. Amid the flags and mawkish talk of a \u2018forever partnership\u2019, it looked very much like a new alliance and conjured unhelpful images of English-speaking nations throwing their weight around the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n

But AUKUS is neither an alliance<\/a> nor a vehicle for strategic policy coordination. It\u2019s basically a memorandum of understanding for sharing advanced technology, defence industrial capabilities and technical know-how\u2014one that will hopefully build on the expanded US national technology and industrial base<\/a> that has struggled to break down export controls between the US and Australia. If effective, it should provide two-way benefits akin to a defence free-trade zone, empowering Australia\u2019s pursuit of cutting-edge capabilities and filtering Australian innovation into US (and UK) defence projects\u2014the kind of defence industrial integration Canberra has wanted for some time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This raises a second reason for heightened concern: the risk that we will become gravely reliant on US technology by buying nuclear-powered submarines and other new kit. It\u2019s true that co-developing a boat with the US and UK will require their support to design, build and service it. But this was also true of the French submarine, which was to be outfitted<\/a> with US weapons and sensors.<\/p>\n

More to the point, the ADF is already irreversibly dependent on American technology. The engines on our P-8A anti-submarine warfare aircraft (and most others) are maintained<\/a> in the US, our F-35s and EA-18G Growlers rely on<\/a> sensitive US data, most of our munitions are made in America, and our entire military depends on US satellites and other systems to talk to itself. An AUKUS-built submarine hardly poses a new problem.<\/p>\n

Nor is it the case that buying US technology will necessarily leave us vulnerable to abandonment or entrapment. The suggestion<\/a> that America must be prepared to fight for primacy in Asia to keep servicing our submarines is far-fetched to say the least. On the flipside, those who argue Australia\u2019s pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines will bind us<\/a> to US war plans over Taiwan<\/a> fail to appreciate how hard that would be in practice. We\u2019re not doing freedom-of-navigation patrols now, despite persistent US requests.<\/p>\n

Indeed, one reason Washington has been reluctant to share nuclear-propulsion and other exquisite technology with allies is precisely because such capabilities provide independent options<\/a>, making allies potentially less pliant. Australia currently enjoys, and must protect, a high degree of self-reliance within the alliance. Rather than jeopardising that, AUKUS could support the establishment of deep maintenance and sustainment facilities for the new submarines in Australia, along with a \u2018sovereign guided weapons and explosive ordnance enterprise\u2019<\/a> so that we can build high-end munitions, thereby increasing our sovereign industrial capabilities. This may not be a given, and Canberra must push for it<\/a>. But it\u2019s simply not true that AUKUS is categorically riskier or all one-way in a dependency sense.<\/p>\n

A final cause of concern relates to the Australia\u2013US decision to advance new air, land and sea force-posture initiatives on Australian soil, which many worry<\/a> will turn us into a US military outpost. In addition to increasing the already high number of US warplanes rotating through Australia, the real significance of this decision will be the establishment<\/a> of a combined maritime logistics, sustainment and maintenance facility. This will enable<\/a> Australian, US and other allied warships and submarines to rotate through Western Australia on a more regular basis, and undertake deeper refurbishment work there, allowing for expanded operations and more time spent in the Indo-Pacific\u2014which is particularly important given that American dry-dock and maintenance facilities are strained and distant.<\/p>\n

These decisions aren\u2019t to be taken lightly and do position Australia to be a staging post for US power projection and military operations. But they are not new choices<\/a>. They represent sovereign decisions expanded by Canberra with bipartisan support ever since Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched<\/a> the 2011 Australia\u2013US force posture initiatives. And they get us back to the core purpose of Australia\u2019s increasingly active defence strategy: sustaining the strongest possible US military presence in the region and playing a more significant collective defence role ourselves.<\/p>\n

Critics of AUKUS and the alliance need to be more responsible. Australia is about to acquire one of the world\u2019s most potent military capabilities because of the alliance and Washington\u2019s readiness to empower our armed forces. The capability itself is a big deal<\/a>\u2014lethal and high-endurance submarines are the best way to deter Chinese aggression. But in form the AUKUS deal is little different from the way we\u2019ve got US defence technology in the past, save for the fact that we now have an opportunity for more transfers of technology and technical know-how to Australia. Negotiating appropriate terms and conditions<\/a> for this pact is crucial. But we must remember that AUKUS and the new force posture initiatives aren\u2019t a break with the past<\/a>\u2014they\u2019re part of our ongoing push to accelerate Australia\u2019s contribution to collective defence in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canberra\u2019s announcement that it will acquire nuclear-powered submarines through its new defence pact with London and Washington, AUKUS, has generated considerable scrutiny. The decision to expand the basing and rotational presence of US forces in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1005,"featured_media":67456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,3111,338,285],"class_list":["post-67449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-defence-force","tag-aukus","tag-defence-policy","tag-foreign-policy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFar from breaking with the past, AUKUS advances Australia\u2019s commitment to collective defence | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Far from breaking with the past, AUKUS advances Australia\u2019s commitment to collective defence | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Canberra\u2019s announcement that it will acquire nuclear-powered submarines through its new defence pact with London and Washington, AUKUS, has generated considerable scrutiny. The decision to expand the basing and rotational presence of US forces in ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-24T01:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-24T02:24:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/talismansabre2409.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"801\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ashley Townshend\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ashley Townshend\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/talismansabre2409.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/talismansabre2409.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":801},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/\",\"name\":\"Far from breaking with the past, AUKUS advances Australia\u2019s commitment to collective defence | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-24T01:30:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-24T02:24:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/e434f9272887d0d47fff85dfc06793c5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Far from breaking with the past, AUKUS advances Australia\u2019s commitment to collective defence\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/e434f9272887d0d47fff85dfc06793c5\",\"name\":\"Ashley Townshend\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf90a1b291fb0fa84aeddf81e3cb7835?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf90a1b291fb0fa84aeddf81e3cb7835?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ashley Townshend\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/ashley-townshend\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Far from breaking with the past, AUKUS advances Australia\u2019s commitment to collective defence | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Far from breaking with the past, AUKUS advances Australia\u2019s commitment to collective defence | The Strategist","og_description":"Canberra\u2019s announcement that it will acquire nuclear-powered submarines through its new defence pact with London and Washington, AUKUS, has generated considerable scrutiny. The decision to expand the basing and rotational presence of US forces in ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2021-09-24T01:30:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-24T02:24:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":801,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/talismansabre2409.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ashley Townshend","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ashley Townshend","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/talismansabre2409.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/talismansabre2409.jpg","width":1200,"height":801},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/","name":"Far from breaking with the past, AUKUS advances Australia\u2019s commitment to collective defence | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2021-09-24T01:30:18+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-24T02:24:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/e434f9272887d0d47fff85dfc06793c5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/far-from-breaking-with-the-past-aukus-advances-australias-commitment-to-collective-defence\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Far from breaking with the past, AUKUS advances Australia\u2019s commitment to collective defence"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/e434f9272887d0d47fff85dfc06793c5","name":"Ashley Townshend","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf90a1b291fb0fa84aeddf81e3cb7835?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf90a1b291fb0fa84aeddf81e3cb7835?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ashley Townshend"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/ashley-townshend\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67449"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67460,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67449\/revisions\/67460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}