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(The Guardian) Australia must build strike capabilities before nuclear subs are ready: Hastie
The Australian government must prepare for the risk that China may attempt to take Taiwan by force sooner than the nuclear-powered submarines are ready, the Coalition’s defence spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, has said.
The Aukus partnership with the US and the UK was reached under the former Coalition government and heavily promoted by Scott Morrison in the lead up to the election - but Hastie said in a speech today that Australia needed to boost its military capability sooner.
Hastie, one of the Coalition’s more hawkish members, said the former US Commander of the Indo-Pacific, Admiral Phil Davidson, had “sounded the ship’s klaxon 18 months ago when he warned that China may attempt to take Taiwan by force within six years, by 2027”. Hastie also pointed to recent comments by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, that “Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline.”
Hastie told a Business News politics and policy breakfast in Perth: Only in the last fortnight, Chief of US Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday said China could move on Taiwan as early as this year, or next.
The window is closing fast. These are considered words. We must take them seriously. We won’t have nuclear submarines in the water by 2027. So how are we hedging against the risk of conflict arriving sooner rather than later? That’s what Stephen Smith and Sir Angus Houston are now considering in the Defence Strategic Review. I don’t want to discuss particulars here today except to make clear that we need to build strike capabilities that can hold an adversary at risk beyond the archipelago to our north. Strike bombers; precision guided missiles; and, unmanned autonomous vehicles—in the skies and in the seas below.
Hastie said the final report would be completed in March, but he understood an interim version would be provided to the government this week. He said he was “hopeful for good outcomes” but argued that last week’s budget “does not inspire confidence” because inflation was depleting Defence’s purchasing power. While Labor has committed to annual defence spending of 2% of economic output, Hastie said it “must be well above” that benchmark.
Hastie said the Australian government had “a moral obligation to the Australian people to build and maintain a strong deterrent to any regional aggressor, to show that there is a great cost for any unilateral military adventurism”.
The Australian government must prepare for the risk that China may attempt to take Taiwan by force sooner than the nuclear-powered submarines are ready, the Coalition’s defence spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, has said.
The Aukus partnership with the US and the UK was reached under the former Coalition government and heavily promoted by Scott Morrison in the lead up to the election - but Hastie said in a speech today that Australia needed to boost its military capability sooner.
Hastie, one of the Coalition’s more hawkish members, said the former US Commander of the Indo-Pacific, Admiral Phil Davidson, had “sounded the ship’s klaxon 18 months ago when he warned that China may attempt to take Taiwan by force within six years, by 2027”. Hastie also pointed to recent comments by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, that “Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline.”
Hastie told a Business News politics and policy breakfast in Perth: Only in the last fortnight, Chief of US Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday said China could move on Taiwan as early as this year, or next.
The window is closing fast. These are considered words. We must take them seriously. We won’t have nuclear submarines in the water by 2027. So how are we hedging against the risk of conflict arriving sooner rather than later? That’s what Stephen Smith and Sir Angus Houston are now considering in the Defence Strategic Review. I don’t want to discuss particulars here today except to make clear that we need to build strike capabilities that can hold an adversary at risk beyond the archipelago to our north. Strike bombers; precision guided missiles; and, unmanned autonomous vehicles—in the skies and in the seas below.
Hastie said the final report would be completed in March, but he understood an interim version would be provided to the government this week. He said he was “hopeful for good outcomes” but argued that last week’s budget “does not inspire confidence” because inflation was depleting Defence’s purchasing power. While Labor has committed to annual defence spending of 2% of economic output, Hastie said it “must be well above” that benchmark.
Hastie said the Australian government had “a moral obligation to the Australian people to build and maintain a strong deterrent to any regional aggressor, to show that there is a great cost for any unilateral military adventurism”.
