Opinion

Why is Australia focusing on defence and a vague China ‘threat’ when relations are warming?

By basing its defence overhaul on a perceived threat, Canberra leaves too many questions hanging, including how this will deter or even contain China’s ambitions

With Australia’s growth slowing and relations with China thawing, it might be wiser to focus on economic cooperation and peaceful overtures instead

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Sameed Basha is a defence and political analyst with a master’s degree in international relations from Deakin University, Australia.

Published: 3:30am, 1 May 2023

The China “threat” has long been trumpeted in Australia, yet there have been few details about what the threat actually consists of. The government’s latest defence strategic review now calls for an overhaul to arm its forces with long-range capabilities, hyping up an undefined China “threat” to justify the expenditure.

The concepts used to garner public support look similar to American tactics deployed during the “war on terror” in Afghanistan – where the strategy was unclear, the goals never defined, but the “threat” was always active and elusive. As Australia’s defence review states, there is “at present only a remote possibility of any power contemplating an invasion of our continent”.

Despite this, Canberra points to China’s military build-up as contesting the global order, failing to mention it is doing so within its own territory. In contrast, Australia’s shift in defence policy is aimed at defending jurisdictions beyond its immediate borders by increasing the range of its missiles to hit targets 500km away or further, from the current 40km.