Kevin Rudd is spot on here:
Morrison campaigns on national security! FFS! This is the worst security policy failure for Australia since WW2. China now has a base on our doorstep because Morrison ignored Island reaction on aid cuts & climate. Imagine Murdoch coverage if we allowed this! https://t.co/LYbfjG879j
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) April 19, 2022
This is a disaster for Australian freedom. A Chinese naval base in the Solomons will deliver:
- Gunboat diplomacy directed permanently at Canberra’s and Wellington’s heads.
- A geographic blokage of ANZUS.
- The snookering of the nuclear subs plan.
- An imminent threat to Australian energy imports without which we are destroyed in a week.
- The steady erosion of Pacific democracy and transparency as normatives across the region shift toward Beijing’s values.
It appears that Labor would most likely mount a major diplomatic initiative to stop the base by improving soft power policy. This is worth a try before we get much tougher with hard power.
On the other hand, the Morrison Government is doing nothing while pretending to be tough on China amid what is, in effect, Australia’s Cuban Missile Crisis.
The base cannot be allowed to be built. Whatever it takes.
