The US no longer has military primacy in the Pacific and could struggle to defend allies against China, a top Australian think tank said.
A hard-hitting report from the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney released yesterday said the US military is an “atrophying force” that is “dangerously overstretched” and “ill-prepared” for a confrontation with China.
If correct, the assessment has far-reaching implications for US allies such as Taiwan, Australia and Japan that depend on US security guarantees.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has deepened concerns that Washington would not defend its allies in the face of aggression from China — but this latest report has suggested that the US might struggle to help even if it wanted to.
Accusing Washington of “strategic insolvency,” the authors said decades-long Middle East wars, partisanship and under-investment have left Pacific allies exposed.
“China, by contrast, is growing ever more capable of challenging the regional order by force as a result of its large-scale investment in advanced military systems,” they said.
Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Beijing’s official defense budget has increased by about 75 percent to US$178 billion — although the true figure is believed to be much more.
Crucially, Beijing has invested in precision ballistic missiles and counterintervention systems that would make it difficult for the US military to reach contested areas quickly. “Almost all American, allied and partner bases, airstrips, ports and military installations in the Western Pacific” lack hardened infrastructure and are under major threat, the report said.
That advantage could be used to seize territory in Taiwan, Japanese-administered islands or the South China Sea before US forces could get there.
Experts believe that the deployment of US land-based missiles and a changed role for the US Marine Corps will be vital to countering China, as well as collective regional defense — with the likes of Australia and Japan doing more.
In Australia, concerns have been growing about inadequate defenses, prompting debate about whether the country should think about developing nuclear weapons.
Similar discussions have periodically taken place in Indonesia.
A separate report released on Sunday by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute recommended Australia boost and harden military capabilities in the thinly populated north of the country.
“Because of the significantly reduced warning times for future conflict,” it is likely the north of Australia would be used as a forward operating base or a “lily pad” to reach conflict zones, author John Coyne wrote.
The US military has already earmarked about US$210 million to boost a US Marine Corps base near Darwin.
During a recent visit to Australia, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper suggested that Washington wants to deploy intermediate-range missiles in Asia.
The Australian government said it has not received a formal request to host those weapons.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS