NEW DELHI: Australia on Monday unveiled its biggest military shake-up in decades, releasing National Defence Strategic Review report. It listed threats from China’s military expansion and went on say relationships and practical cooperation with key powers, including Japan and India, would be expanded.
Unveiling it in Canberra, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government set out a blueprint for Australia’s strategic policy, defence planning and resources over the coming decades.
The defence cooperation programme must continue to grow in importance, the report said. Investing in Indo-Pacific regional defence partnerships is critical and must be focused on Australia’s primary area of military interest, it stated.
Speaking in Canberra, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, without naming China, said, “Australia will shift its focus to deterring enemies before they reach its shores — at sea, in the air and online. Today, for the first time, in 35 years, we are recasting the mission of the Australian Defence Force.”
The report mentioned the importance of Quad partnership with Japan, India and the United States.
Released for the global audience, the report mentioned, “Australia will continue to cooperate with China, but will disagree where we must, manage our differences wisely, and, above all else, engage in and vigorously pursue our own national interest.”
China’s military build-up is now the “largest and most ambitious of any country” since the end of the Second World War, the report said. This build-up is occurring without transparency or reassurance to the Indo-Pacific region about China’s strategic intent. “China’s assertion of sovereignty over the South China Sea threatens the global rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific in a way that adversely impacts Australia’s national interests,” the report said.
In the present strategic circumstances, only be achieved by Australia working with the United States and other key partners in the maintenance of a favourable regional environment, the report said.
“The risk of nuclear escalation must be regarded as real. Our best protection against the risk of nuclear escalation is the United States,” the report.