Australia's military support of the US in the Asia Pacific against China is typical of regional concern

A recent opinion piece by Binoy Kampmark on On Line Opinion when expressing concern that US forces in Australia may have delivery systems capable of deploying nuclear weapons, states:

This ingloriously subservient status to Washington has been laid bare yet again, and along with that, the increasingly likely prospect of being targeted in any future conflict that involves the United States. Hardly a responsible state of affairs, and one on the verge of being treasonous.

While debate is critical within any liberal democracy, it is ridiculous to imply that Australia is "being turned into a US garrison state" as if there is no reason for Australia to participate in a wider military counter to Chinese expansionary aims.

Although the potential use of nuclear weapons leaving from Australian destinations cannot be ruled out as a means of last resort, the Australia-US security relationship is very important at a time when many countries are concerned by the rise of authoritarian China.

It is China alone which is causing the military fightback by many Asian Pacific nations, including the need for many regional sites that can host effective defence weaponry in line with China's arsenal of nuclear weapons roughly doubling to more than 400 warheads since 2020 according to a 2022 US Defense Department report.

As of 2021, defence spending amongst Asia Pacific nations, excluding China and Russia with $293 billion and $65.9 billion (US dollars throughout article), included the US with $801 billion, India $76.6 billion, Japan $54.1 billion, South Korea $50.2 billion, Australia $31.8 billion, Canada $26.4 billion, Taiwan $13.0 billion, Singapore $11.1 billion, Indonesia $8.3 billion, and Thailand $6.6 billion.

Most Asian Pacific nations know full well that their best option is to support a liberal-minded world order led by the US, as seen by further increases to their defence budgets and/or cooperation with the US to address the aggressive behaviour of China.

The idea that Australia should not support the US is ludicrous.

With Australia much closer to any potential conflict zone in the Asia Pacific, with most attention on China's claim to take Taiwan by force if necessary, it is completely logical that Australia would fulfil its role within the US-Australia security relationship.

But let us not rest on my biased Western perspective which still believes that Western leadership is crucial to the world, superior to any other alternative offered by authoritarian powers.

In recent times, prior to the rise of a more aggressive China during the last ten years, with the increasingly global nature of the international economy making China much more important for supply chains and manufacturing, many nations depended on US military might and foolishly hoped that authoritarian China would be satisfied with acquiring economic might.

But now many of these same nations, still expecting the US to remain a Pacific power and Asian stakeholder, are responding to China in many forms knowing full well that a world led by western influenced institutions is still their best option against China which is widely recognised by most countries to be seeking military and economic domination.

As of May 2020, at a time when many Southeast Asian countries were cutting defence spending as a result of the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus outbreak, China announced it will increase its defence spending by 6.6 percent in 2020 which still allowed it to expand its ability to enforce its territorial claims in the South China Sea and grow its military presence in the Western Pacific and Indian oceans.

While many Asian countries have been wary of upsetting China, the most important economic partner to most nations in the region, many are responding in different ways.

Take Indonesia's government which currently does not wish to openly take sides in geopolitical competition as its historical experience has shown the US and China are equally capable of threatening Indonesia's territorial integrity and security.

Despite much closer economic relations between Indonesia and China in recent years, albeit now with growing Indonesian domestic concern about the influx of Chinese goods and migrant laborers for projects and Indonesia's inability to seize business opportunities in China's market, security cooperation between China and Indonesia remains extremely limited largely because of the Indonesian military's ongoing distrust of China and public anxiety about China's aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea.

And despite Indonesia's concerns about AUKUS, fearing that an anti-China alliance will provoke nuclear proliferation in the Pacific and threaten overall regional security, it is noted that Indonesia still needs US and allied support against Chinese aggression.

With regard to Beijing's Global Security Initiative (GSI), which is intended as an alternative to US-led security norms, others note that the idea of an "Asia for Asia" approach that is free of interference from outside actors is countered by fears that the GSI will be skewed towards China's interests.

After all, China's supposed rejection of unilateral action stands in direct contrast to recent Chinese actions in the South China Sea that ignores the 2016 ruling by an international arbitration tribunal that found its expansive nine-dash line claim to the South China Sea had no legal basis.

Currently Indonesia is upgrading its naval capabilities with its Minimum Essential Force plan aiming for a 274-ship green-water fleet, 10 fighter squadrons for its air combat capability and 12 new diesel-electric submarines with its defence budget for the upcoming year at $13.6 billion, a record but less than half of the defence minister's request.

The Philippines is more open about its reliance on the US, having a 2022 defence budget of just $US4.5 billion.

In line with President Marcos recently stating "The United States has always been our longest partner and ally" within his belief "that the future of the Philippines, and for that matter the Asia-Pacific region, will always involve the United States", the Philippines recently granted the US permission access to four new military bases in addition to the five bases already used under a 2014 defence cooperation agreement.

With northern bases as close as 250 miles to Taiwan, Rommel Jude Ong, a maritime security expert and retired vice commander of the Philippine Navy, notes that the agreement allows the Philippines to develop a viable counter-strategy against China's incursions into its waters and play a role in managing the geopolitical tensions in the region.

Vietnam, one of the more vocal opponents of China's assertiveness in related disputes concerning all or part of the Spratly and Paracel groups of islands in the South China Sea, is also seeking to modernise its military.

Vietnam is continuing to turn away from its previous reliance upon Russia by seeking to diversify its defence acquisitions from foreign sources, a trend likely to increase in the light of sanctions against Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine, a growing perception that Western equipment is superior, and discomfort with Russian rapprochement with China.

Of the larger Asia Pacific powers, besides the US, Japan will double annual defence spending by 2027 to $80-$90 billion.

Japan's need to bolster its defence included Taiwan being close to Japan's Okinawa archipelago, Japan's vulnerabilities being underscored by Chinese missiles landing in Japan's exclusive economic zone near Taiwan, Chinese transgressions into the waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, and North Korea firing ballistic missiles over Japanese territory.

With Japan agreeing to enhance the presence and the quality of US defence forces stationed on Japanese territory, it also seeks greater cooperation with countries like Australia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

India also raised its defence budget for 2023-24 to $72.6 billion amid tensions with China, including an aim to add more fighter jets and roads along its tense border with China.

While Laxman Behera, a defence expert at government-funded Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said the hike in the defence budget was "reasonable but not sufficient" given requirements for military modernisation, India planned to spend $3 billion for naval fleet construction and $7 billion for air force procurements including more aircraft.

With large numbers of India's armed forces (1.38 million people) deployed along borders with nuclear-armed rivals China and Pakistan, India and China share a 3,500-kilometre (2,100-mile) frontier that has been disputed since the 1950s with a 2020 clash killing 24 soldiers in Ladakh, in the western Himalayas.

As usual, in times of growing tension, individual nations will side with certain powers as they observe the behaviour and policies of each.

Support for the US is rising at the expense of authoritarian China despite the latter's growing economic importance.

According to the 2023 annual survey by Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, polling around 1,300 people across Southeast Asia, only 5.3 per cent thought China could provide leadership to maintain the rules-based order and uphold international law (13.6 per cent 2022) compared to 27.1 per cent for the US (36.6 per cent 2022).

Around half (49.8 per cent) indicated they had either "little confidence" or "no confidence" in China to "do the right thing" to contribute to global peace, security, prosperity and governance, with disapproval highest in Vietnam 78.7 per cent and the Philippines 62.7 per cent.

When asked if the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was forced to choose between the US and China, 61.1 per cent chose the US compared to 38.8 per cent China (57 per cent and 43 per cent 2022).

Japan maintained its lead as the region's most trusted power at 54.5 per cent, with the US second (54.2 per cent), followed by the European Union (51 per cent), China (29.5 per cent), and India (25.7 per cent).

Australia is not acting as a garrison for the US, but playing its part within a regional effort to counter the influence of authoritarian China where most nations prefer the current status quo despite any real or perceived grievances they hold against US or Western influence.