Paul Keating:a loss of Australian sovereignty.Credit:Peter Braig
Australia has had great difficulty in running a bunch of locally built conventional submarines. Imagine the difficulty in moving to sophisticated nuclear submarines,their maintenance and operational complexity. And all this at a time when US reliability and resolution around its strategic commitments and military engagements are under question.
If the US military,with all its might,could not beat a bunch of Taliban rebels with AK-47 rifles in pickup trucks,what chance would it have in a full-blown war against China,not only the biggest state in the world but the commander and occupant of the largest land mass in Asia? When it comes to conflict,particularly among great powers,land beats water every time.
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It has to be remembered that China is a continental power and the US is a naval power. And that the US supply chain to East Asia would broadly need to span the whole Pacific from its base in San Diego and other places along the American west coast. Australia,by the announced commitments,would find itself hostage to any such a gambit.
There is no doubt about the Liberals:240 years after we departed from Britain,we are back there with Boris Johnson,trying to find our security in Asia through London. Such is the continual failure of the Liberal Party to have any faith in Australia’s capacity,but,more particularly,its rights to its own independence and freedom of action.