‘We Have No Greater Ally’: US and Australia Strengthen Military Ties

(L-R) Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles attend a lunch at Persone Italian Restaurant in Brisbane, Australia, on July 28, 2023. (Sarah Friend/Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade via Getty Images)

Australia’s northern air force bases will be expanded to support the rotation of a U.S. Navy patrol aircraft and American intelligence will work in Canberra next year as both nations boost military ties to counter Beijing’s aggressive expansion in the Indo-Pacific.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin joined their Australian counterparts, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles, in Brisbane on July 29 for the annual AUSMIN talks.

“We’re living in incredibly challenging times. That only underscores how vitally important it is for the United States to have this remarkable alliance, this remarkable friendship with Australia,” Mr. Blinken said at a press conference after the talks.

“We have no greater or more valuable ally.”

Ms. Wong echoed the sentiment, calling the United States a “vital ally.”

“[The U.S.] is our closest global partner, our closest strategic partner,” she said.

(L to R) The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, the Hon Richard Marles MP, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III pose for a photo during Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations as part of AUSMIN talks in Brisbane, Australia, on July 29, 2023. (AAP Image/Pool,Dan Peled)

The United States and Australia announced in a joint statement that a “Combined Intelligence Centre” will be established within Australia’s Defence Intelligence Organisation by 2024, which will increase intelligence cooperation and information sharing.

Australian and American intelligence officials will be focused on jointly “analysing issues of shared strategic concern in the Indo-Pacific,” according to the statement.

Mr. Marles said Australia and its allies faced the most complex set of strategic circumstances since World War II.

“This is about taking what is already a good flow of intelligence information between Australia and the United States and being able to make that process even more seamless and to be able to develop joint analysis of intelligence between our two countries across the board in all aspects of what we do,” he told ABC radio.

Greater Military Integration

Australia will also see an increased presence of the U.S. military, including longer and more frequent visits by U.S. nuclear submarines and U.S. Navy vessels including patrol and reconnaissance aircraft. Both nations indicated the ambition of inviting like-minded allies to participate in maritime aircraft patrols in the future.

Meanwhile, under the trilateral AUKUS security alliance, the United States and the United Kingdom will help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines, with the first ship scheduled to begin construction in 2034.

To fill the capability gap before the first submarines are delivered, Australia will buy at least three Virginia-class attack submarines from the U.S.

Both countries have also signalled that they will look for ways to integrate Japan into their joint defence efforts.

“All of us have felt that the alliance has never been in better shape than it is right now,” Mr. Marles said.

The United States will also help Australia manufacture guided missiles by 2025, a key initiative to expand Australia’s military-industrial infrastructure and skilled workforce.

“This represents a very, very significant step forward in our relationship, and in the relationship of our defence industry,” Mr. Marles said.

The heightened collaboration was aimed at defending the international rules-based order and ensuring countries in the region are “free from any coercion.”

“We’re doing that in part by engaging China, but also, as necessary, opposing its efforts to disrupt freedom of navigation and overflight in the South and East China Seas, to upend the status quo that’s preserved peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, to pressure countries through economic coercion or threats to their citizens,” Mr. Blinken said.

‘Message for All Australians’

Jennifer Parker, the deputy director defence of the Australia Strategic Policy Institute, an independent defence policy think tank, said the underlying theme of this year’s AUSMIN talks was “preparedness.”

“The continued focus on joint U.S.-Australian efforts to upgrade bare bases is sending a public message that in a crisis or conflict U.S. assets will operate from dispersed bases in northern Australia to mitigate the risk that Chinese military capabilities pose to U.S. bases on Okinawa and Guam,” she wrote online.

“And on the theme of preparedness, an underlying message is that, while not inevitable, the likelihood of a crisis or conflict is not remote.”

Ms. Parker said the joint statement was a document important to all Australians, not just to those with interests in defence and foreign policy.

“It contains an important message for all Australians that deserves attention. The likelihood of a crisis or conflict in our region is not remote, and our preparedness to confront this fact deserves attention,” she said.