America needs Australia for its defensible position and Australia needs America for its military reinforcements.
The geographic location of northern Australia is of significant strategic interest to the U.S., as the sea lines of communication are open to the broader Indo-Pacific in multiple directions. And there’s space for investment in adequate infrastructure for future expansion. The U.S. and Australian defence strategies and policies are aligned in the Indo-Pacific and the national interests of each country are easier to navigate when our like-minded democracies cooperate.
The U.S. should continue defence cooperation to leverage Australia’s strategic geography and modern defence capabilities to counter the recent corrosive and aggressive actions of China in the Indo-Pacific. This is why, today, ASPI is releasing its latest Strategic Insight, Stronger together: U.S. force posture in Australia’s north—a U.S. perspective of Australia’s strategic geography.
The new report argues why, and analyses how, Australia’s defence force capabilities and strategic geography can enable U.S. force posture initiatives in the Indo-Pacific and promote greater regional cooperation in ways that advance U.S. and Australian national interests.
I've long argued that Australian geography and military forces make it a shield and sword. Australia needs to make sure America believes it can help defend Australia to gain those advantages.
And fortunately, Australia seems to have decided that it prefers to remain part of the West--and be equipped to do so--despite Chinese bullying to submit to Peking's orders.
China can be beaten. And if China chooses war, it can be defeated.
