Australia won’t make any promises to send its troops in anticipation of a potential conflict, including any over Taiwan, Reuters reported, quoting the country’s Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy as saying, as he pushed back on suggestions that the US is seeking clarity on Australia’s military role.
Australia Doesn’t ‘Discuss Hypotheticals’
Responding to a Financial Times report that the Pentagon has been urging allies, including Australia and Japan, to outline their stance in a scenario wherein tensions over Taiwan escalate, Conroy stressed national sovereignty, telling the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict “will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day.”
“We don’t discuss hypotheticals,” he said in an ABC interview, according to Reuters.
The comments came as Elbridge Colby, former US under-secretary of defence for policy, posted on X that America – under President Donald Trump’s administration – is pressing allies to step up defense efforts as part of the “America First” deterrence strategy.
Taiwan Tensions Loom
China sees Taiwan as part of its territory and hasn’t ruled out using force to reunify it. Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, meanwhile, has firmly rejected Beijing’s claims, asserting that the island’s future lies solely in the hands of its people.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, currently in Shanghai for a six-day trip focussed on trade and security, emphasised that “Canberra did not want any change to the status quo on Taiwan.”
Noting concerns over China’s growing military footprint, especially its nuclear capabilities and attempts to establish a base in the Pacific, Conroy reportedly said, “That is not in Australia’s interest.”
War Games in Sydney Harbour
Talisman Sabre, Australia’s largest military exercise with the US, kicked off Sunday in Sydney Harbour, bringing together 40,000 troops from 19 countries, including the UK, Japan, France and India.
The exercises aim to “test our ability to move our forces into the north of Australia and operate from Australia,” Reuters quoted Vice Admiral Justin Jones as saying.
US Lieutenant General Joel Vowell told the US-based news agency, “Our ultimate goal is no war.”
“If we could do all this alone and we could go fast, but because we want to go far, we have to do it together,” Vowell said, per Reuters.
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