The US must be told that we will not be involved in any way and at any time in a war with China over Taiwan.

Trump is pressing US allies to increase their defence expenditure. Anthony Albanese has wisely responded that the Australian Government will decide how much we spend on defence, and not the US.

Further the Financial Times newspaper, and not any Australian media, now tell us that the senior US defence official Elbridge Colby, who is conducting the review of AUKUS, insists that Australia and Japan must advise the US in advance that the second-hand AUKUS submarines will be available in the support of US if it goes to war over Taiwan.

Our defence industry minister has responded by saying that “the decision to commit Australian troops will be made by the government of the day and not in advance”. That sounds to me that Australia will not agree in advance to commit AUKUS submarines to support the US Navy in any action over Taiwan.

We wait for our prime minister to confirm that he will not commit to any Australian involvement over Taiwan in any way and at any time.

There has been a consistent message from the US that any AUKUS submarines would be at the beck and call of the US Navy. Kurt Campbell a strategic advisor to ex-president Joe Biden, made it clear that when the submarines are provided to Australia they will “not be lost to the US”. Campbell even boasted that AUKUSs had “locked Australia in for 40 years".

As usual, our media remained dumb on the subject.

At the urging of Kim Beazley our Ambassador to the US, Julia Gillard started the rot by agreeing in 2011 to the basing of US marines in Darwin

The Abbott Government’s 2014 Force Posture Agreement with the US  cedes control of certain military operations from our territory to the US e.g. Marines in Darwin, US B-52’s in Tindal and a lot more.

The 2021 AUSMIN ministerial meeting endorsed:

• Enhanced air co-operation through the rotational deployment of US aircraft of all types in Australia and appropriate aircraft training and exercises.
• Enhanced maritime co-operation by increasing logistics and sustainment capabilities of US surface and subsurface vessels in Australia.
• Enhanced land co-operation by conducting more complex and more integrated exercises and greater combined engagement with allies and partners in the region.
• Establishment of a combined logistics, sustainment, and maintenance enterprise to support high end warfighting and combined military operations in the region.

Northern Australia has become a US military colony

The 2021 AUKUS agreement was a clear sign to our region that instead of building bridges to our region we have decided to be a spear carrier for the US.  AUKUS is not to defend Australia, but to support US operations against China in the South China Sea.

The US is goading China into war over Taiwan. This is consistent with US behaviour over centuries. It is driven by its self-righteous belief in its “exceptionalism” and the pressure of its military/industrial/security complex for endless wars. The US expects other major powers like China to behave as aggressively as it has.

China has no Monroe Doctrine which Americans believe gives them the God-given right to interfere in other country’s affairs.

Since its founding in 1776, the US has been at war 93% of the time. Since the end of WW2, the US has launched 201 armed conflicts around the world. During the Cold War it tried to change governments 72 times. It assassinated foreign leaders and still assassinates with drones guided from Pine Gap. It has 800 bases around the world, many of them in Japan and ROK directed at China. Through its complicity with Israel, it has brought death and havoc to the Middle East.

The US is the  most aggressive and violent country in the world. President Trump and the US are greater threats to world peace than President Xi or China.

When we tagged behind imperial powers in the past, there was little military risk to Australia. But that is not so today. If we were involved in support of the US against China over Taiwan, the results could be catastrophic for us. Becoming a vassal of the US, we are painting a target on our back.

China is certainly growing in influence and confidence. That is not surprising after more than a century of Western and Japanese invasion and humiliation. But China is not a military threat to either the US or Australia.

It is urgent that the Australian Government make it clear to the US that we will not be involved in any way with a war between China and the US over Taiwan and that none of our facilities can be used for that purpose – Pine Gap, Darwin or Tindal.

For decades we have maintained that Taiwan is part of China.

Paul Keating has said many times that “Taiwan is not a vital Australian interest”.

In a crisis, it will be too late to assert our sovereignty.