China reproaches Australia over strengthened US defence ties
CHINA has strongly reproached Canberra over strengthened US defence ties, warning Australia may be "caught in the crossfire" if the United States uses new Australian-based military forces to threaten its interests.
A strongly-worded editorial in the state-owned People's Daily said the new Australian-US defence pact posed a security threat to Australia.
"Australia surely cannot play China for a fool. It is impossible for China to remain detached, no matter what Australia does to undermine its security," it said.
"If Australia uses its military bases to help the US harm Chinese interests, then Australia itself will be caught in the crossfire."
The editorial admonished Australia for relying on China for its economic interests while turning to the United States for political and security purposes.
"Gillard may be ignoring something - their economic co-operation with China does not pose any threat to the US, whereas the Australia-US military alliance serves to counter China," it said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also branded the strengthened alliance as inappropriate and counter to the peaceful development of the region.
"It may not be quite appropriate to intensify and expand military alliances and may not be in the interest of countries within this region," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said last night.
"China believes that peaceful development and co-operation is a trend of the times and is the mainstream of the foreign policy of countries within this region, especially against the backdrop of sluggish economic growth."
The strong Chinese reaction to yesterday's announcement followed stern words from Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa.
"What I would hate to see is if such a development were to provoke a reaction and counter-reaction," he said in Bali, where President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Julia Gillard are headed tonight for the ASEAN and East Asia leaders' tonight.
Unveiling plans yesterday to station 2500 US marines in the Northern Territory within five years, the US President confirmed Australia's strategic importance in an Asia-Pacific century dominated by the growing power of China and India.
But while the two leaders found common ground on regional security and development, Mr Obama undermined the Prime Minister's claim that her carbon tax mirrored a global trend, making clear the US would not price carbon within the next five years.
Mr Obama arrived in Canberra late yesterday on a trip mainly designed to lock in deeper security ties with Australia to mark the 60th anniversary of the defence treaty between the two nations.
"Our alliance is going to be indispensable to our shared future, the security we need, and the prosperity that we seek, not only in this region but around the world," Mr Obama said alongside Ms Gillard. "This is a region of huge importance to us. This is right up there at the top of my priority list. We are going to make sure that we are able to fulfil out leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region."
In his first visit to Australia as US President, Mr Obama noted the Asia-Pacific's status as engine room for global economic growth justified deeper US engagement, including leadership in creating or maintaining "rules of the road" for all nations to guide orderly development and maintain peace and prosperity. And while he stressed he welcomed the rise of China, Mr Obama said "with their rise comes increased responsibility", which included playing "by the rules" of being a world power.
During private talks yesterday, Ms Gillard and Mr Obama finalised a new security deal under which the US will station 250 US marines in the Northern Territory for six months a year from next year, gradually increasing the commitment to 2500 marines by 2016-17.
Mr Obama said he wanted to send a clear message to the region that the US wanted to lift its engagement and also underline the strength of its alliance with Australia. Ms Gillard said the initiatives would make the alliance stronger and strengthen regional co-operation.
"We are a region that is growing economically, but stability is important for economic growth too," she said.
"And our alliance has been a bedrock of stability in our region. So building on our alliance through this new initiative is about stability. It will be good for the Australian Defence Force to increase their capabilities by joint training, combined training, with the US marines and personnel."
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa last night warned Mr Gillard and Mr Obama their northern Australia deployment plan risked creating a "vicious circle of tension and mistrust in the region" unless its purpose was made transparent.
While the President went out of his way to promote his host, describing Ms Gillard as his friend and praising her as down-to-earth and easy to talk to, he was unable to provide political backing when asked about the carbon tax, which will take effect from July 1.
Mr Obama lauded the Prime Minister's $23-a-tonne carbon tax as "bold", but said the US was acting on climate change by funding alternative energy research and cutting car emissions - a strategy similar to Tony Abbott's direct action policy, attacked by Ms Gillard as inadequate.
During the long and often-bruising political debate that led to the tax, Ms Gillard justified her plan by warning that if Australia did not embrace a carbon tax it could be left behind by the rest of the world and even face new tariffs from nations that had put a price on carbon.
The Prime Minister has rejected Mr Abbott's direct-action plan as inadequate to cut emissions and criticised the fact it would slug Australian taxpayers.
But last night, as the two leaders held a press conference after an hour of talks, Mr Obama was asked whether the US would adopt a national carbon tax within the next five years. "In the US, although we haven't passed what we call a cap-and-trade system, an exchange, what we have done is, for example, taken steps to double fuel-efficiency standards on cars, which will have an enormous impact on removing carbon from the atmosphere," the President said.
"We've invested heavily in clean-energy research ... with improved efficiencies and a whole range of steps, we can meet the commitments we made (in international conferences) in Copenhagen and Cancun."
Mr Obama called on developing nations to take action on climate change, but he said not all nations needed to take the same actions. "Ultimately, what we want is a mechanism whereby all countries are making an effort and it's going to be a tough slog, particularly at a time when the economies, a lot of economies, are still struggling," he said. "But I think it's actually one that over the long term can be beneficial."
Under plans for an increased military presence in Australia, US troops will engage in joint exercises with their Australian counterparts, as well as conduct their own exercises. Australia has agreed to facilitate greater use of Darwin by US military aircraft including jet fighters and B52 bombers, and will develop plans to boost use of Western Australia's Stirling naval base by US vessels.
Mr Obama praised China's economic development and said it would be wrong to think the US was afraid of the emerging giant or that it was trying to exclude it from international forums such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership - a proposed free-trade area.
Mr Obama said he wanted China to be involved in the TPP but that, like all TPP members, it would have to "rethink some of its approaches to trade" if it wanted to join.
The US wanted "a clear set of principles that all of us can abide by so that all of us can succeed".
"It's going to require China, just like all the rest of us, to align all of our existing policies and what we've done in the past with what's required for a better future," Mr Obama said.
He said his message in talks with Chinese leaders was that the growth of its power required the acceptance of increased responsibility. "It's important for them to play by the rules of the road and in fact help underwrite the rules that have allowed so much remarkable economic progress to be made over the last several decades," he said. "When China is playing by those rules, recognising its new role, I think this is a win-win situation."
But he said there would be times when China did not play by the rules, and that the US would then be prepared to send a message to its leaders about the responsibilities of being a super power.
Last night, Mr Obama was the guest at a dinner at Parliament House. Today he will address a joint sitting of the parliament before joining Ms Gillard for a visit to Darwin.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arc...nce-barack-obama/story-fnb0o39u-1226197460882
