The United States is to bolster its military presence in Australia after promising it will not leave Canberra with defence gaps as China extends its influence in the Pacific.
More long-range nuclear bombers will be deployed in Australia and the US will increase the number of rotations of jet fighters, troops and visits by navy ships.
The commitment was delivered yesterday to Richard Marles, Australia’s defence minister, and Penny Wong, the foreign minister, in Washington.
• China wants us to bow, says defiant Australia
It came as Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, increased its target for military spending over the next five years to 43 trillion yen (£257 billion), 1.5 times the present level, as the country seeks to build its defence against the expansionist threat China poses in the region. Tokyo has also said it will use pre-emptive strikes if confronted by aggressive new tactics from Beijing.
The move towards a more lethal defence by Japan, which has maintained its US-drafted pacifist constitution since the end of the Second World War, reflects concerns over security heightened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Chinese threats to Taiwan and North Korea’s increased testing of inter-continental ballistic missiles, including a flight over Japan in October.
Marles and Wong joined Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, and Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, for the latest annual defence talks between the two nations. The discussions focused on Australia’s proposed acquisition of a nuclear submarine fleet using US or British technology or a combination of both. The new fleet is at least 15 years away, meaning Australia faces defence gaps as its ageing fleet of conventionally powered submarines near the end of their operational lives.
“We recognise where Australia is and when its capability begins to diminish,” said Austin. “And, of course, we will address all of that in that pathway we create [for the supply of nuclear submarines]. We will not allow Australia to have a capability gap going forward.”
An official communique promised “enhanced” air co-operation through the rotational deployment of US aircraft in Australia, training and exercises.
Washington already has plans to build new facilities for six B-52 aircraft at the Tindal air base, south of Darwin, where thousands of US Marines have spent six-month stints since 2012. However, there was no firm agreement on basing US nuclear-powered submarine crews in Australia, after Marles said earlier this week “the language of ‘home porting’ . . . is not where we’re at”.
Marles and Austin will meet Ben Wallace, the British defence secretary, at the Pentagon later this week for the first meeting of defence ministers under the Aukus trilateral security pact announced in September 2021. Under the pact, the US and the UK will help Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
Australia is nearing completion of a review of its defence forces that is expected to reveal the type of nuclear-powered submarine it will use as part of the Aukus deal. It may choose either American or British technology or an amalgam of both.
Australia initially planned to spend $35 billion (£19 billion) on a deal with France to build a new fleet of conventional submarines. But in a decision that infuriated President Macron, the former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison ditched the contract in 2021 in favour of nuclear powered vessels.
