SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Washington: Australia should be the “beachhead” against Chinese aggression, and the AUKUS pact is keeping President Xi Jinping awake at night, a US briefing has been told, in comments that provide insight into how the incoming Trump administration may view the trilateral defence agreement.
Republican congressman Michael McCaul, who helped steer the AUKUS legislation in the US, played down fears Donald Trump could back away from the deal under his America First approach once he re-enters the Oval Office in a few days’ time.
Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden and then-British PM Rishi Sunak at the AUKUS announcement in San Diego in 2023.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The agreement between Australia, the UK and the US was announced and signed by Joe Biden, but McCaul said the first Trump administration shared ownership as the concept originated under Trump’s then-secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.
“I have not seen anything to indicate they would back away from it,” he told a private roundtable hosted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Wednesday (AEDT). “That’s why I feel optimistic about it.”
But McCaul’s remarks add to impressions that with Republicans controlling Washington, Australia may be asked to do more to challenge China in the Asia-Pacific, despite the stabilisation of relations achieved by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“I see Australia as the beachhead to counter China. Australia is the key country, continent, to counter the malign influence of China, and that’s why AUKUS is so important,” said McCaul, who until recently chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Pit-stop: a US nuclear-powered submarine docks at Rockingham, Western Australia in March last year. The US may not be able to make more than 1.3 such subs a year.Credit: US Navy
“Australia, in my view, is the power in the Pacific that we need to fortify and work with. If we don’t do this, if we didn’t do AUKUS, chairman Xi would just get that much more emboldened and empowered … This is the thing that keeps chairman Xi up at night.”
Democratic representative Joe Courtney, another key AUKUS backer in Congress, said recent joint trials of AI-enabled military technology under the second pillar of the deal was “the stuff that drives China crazy … they know we’re watching”.
One long-term hesitation around the nuclear-powered submarines Australia will buy from the US under the agreement is that the president must agree they are not required by the US – a problem when production is languishing at about 1.3 vessels a year.
Courtney argued production was on an upward track and, by tonnage, was actually close to Cold War-era highs. “We’re building bigger vessels [now],” he said.
Australia’s US ambassador, Kevin Rudd, told the event that 200 Australian defence companies had registered since October 15 for a new scheme that removes licensing requirements for shared military technology.
Both countries’ military-industrial bases were “in need of improvement”, Rudd acknowledged, but warned against becoming “consumed by cynicism” regarding AUKUS.
“The volume of reaction around various parts of the world to this project of itself speaks volumes about the inherent strategic significance of the assets that we’re talking about here,” he said.
One area of the deal McCaul said would need attention under the new administration is a provision called the Excluded Technology List, which prohibits certain sensitive technologies from being transferred to AUKUS allies.
Australia’s United States Studies Centre has previously identified it as a hindrance to the AUKUS agreement, estimating about 20 to 30 per cent of US defence exports would remain off-limits.
“Propulsion and acoustics [of submarines] are two of many technologies that are currently being excluded on the list. So we’ve got to fix that so that there’s parity,” McCaul said.
“Joe [Courtney] and I agree, because we heard this at the higher levels, that will be fixed … the Excluded Technology List will be probably formalised in the incoming administration. I hope that’s favourable.”
Charles Edel, Australia Chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said despite the progress on AUKUS, questions remained about how much support it would get from the Trump administration and whether it would be a priority.
Increasing Australia’s production of missiles and military drones would be crucial, he said, along with the US ramping up submarine completions.
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