Nelson Seeks New Friends If Us Falters
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday June 15, 2007
THE Federal Government is building contacts with China, India and Japan amid concern that the United States will pull out of Iraq as part of a wider shift towards isolationism.
Comments by the Minister for Defence, Brendan Nelson, yesterday implied that Australia was already contemplating the ramifications of a US defeat in Iraq. Dr Nelson said there would be profound consequences if the US shifted its strategic stance in the face of domestic political pressure. "We also need to change our posture and our outlook should the United States choose to change its own strategic outlook throughout the world," he said. "And one of the risks ... is if the United States pursued an isolationist posture - leaving the Middle East under circumstances other than its own choosing. Then we risk a change in the US presence and participation in providing security ... in our region." Dr Nelson visited Japan and Singapore this month and will hold talks in India, China and Indonesia next month on furthering military contacts and security co-operation. The importance of minimising friction between China and Japan, which Australia wants to play a larger military and strategic role, has become a key Australian aim. Dr Nelson, speaking yesterday at a Canberra conference organised by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, cited the importance of collaboration to combat terrorism and transnational crime and dangers posed by potentially failed states. The Opposition foreign affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland, said Dr Nelson had made "valid points" about the importance of the US remaining engaged in Australia's neighbourhood. He said growing "war weariness" in the US over Iraq threatened to undermine political support for an outward-looking strategic approach. Professor Paul Dibb, a former senior defence intelligence official now at the Australian National University, said there was a real issue of whether Australia would need to shift the emphasise of its defence force away from acting in a "expeditionary role" with US forces towards greater defence self-reliance. "I don't underestimate the damage to American power and influence as a result of the debacle in Iraq," Professor Dibb said. Australia said this month that it was willing to work with both Japan and the US on the developing missile defences, something that could increase tension between Canberra and Beijing. Australia has been keen to assure the Chinese Government that it is not part of any wider plan by Washington to try contain to China's power and influence. On Iraq, Australia is arguing that intensified violence is largely the result of efforts by al-Qaeda to spur further inter-communal bloodshed as part of its international agenda. Dr Nelson yesterday cited warnings that a US withdrawal from Iraq would add to the danger of both a wider "jihad" in the Middle East and a confrontation with Israel. Iraq reprisals - Page 8
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald
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