Are we prepared for full-scale conflict? Our panel of national security experts says no.
Australia’s government has not told the people about the seriousness of the threat the country faces.The Age
Critically, the group emphasises that this is a responsibility for the whole nation, not for the military alone: “Most important of all is a psychological shift. Urgency must replace complacency. The recent decades of tranquillity were not the norm in human affairs, but an aberration. Australia’s holiday from history is over.”Credit:The title of the series, Red Alert, reflects their unanimous view that Australia’s biggest trading partner is also its dominant national security threat.
Lesley Seebeck, chair of the National Institute of Strategic Resilience, says: “We’ve just seen [what happens] in Ukraine where authoritarian leaders want to establish their legacy. This is the tipping point that we’re looking at. And this is what really concerns me about the urgency over the next three to five years.”
Chinese soldiers mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing in 2019.“Our assessment of the risk of war is based on President Xi Jinping’s aggressive stance and rapid military build-up,” they write in their joint communique. “China has growing capability and sense of entitlement. The balance of military power is moving in China’s favour.”, a prosperous self-governing island of 24 million people that sits about 160 kilometres east of mainland China.
Xi gave the world a preview of what a war could look like last August when he launched an unprecedented series of live-fire rocket and missile launches across the Taiwan Strait. The aim: to demonstrate China’s military might and express his fury at a high-profile visit to the island by then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Long-range rockets and ballistic missiles fired from the Chinese mainland fell dangerously close to Taiwan’s capital and key cities.
A tourist on Lion Rock, the closest of Taiwan’s territory to China. Around him are anti-landing spikes. Behind is the Chinese city of Xiamen, just 3km to the west.So America will almost certainly defend Taiwan. What does that mean for Australia? Fighting alongside the Americans - as we have done in every major conflict since WWII - would not have unanimous support.
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