By Denis Bright
Anthony Albanese’s China visit has attracted harsh criticisms from LNP spokespersons. Instead, the LNP wants a closer strategic relationship with the Trump administration despite the insults hurled against us by the Trump-initiated tariffs against our exports of pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum and even Australian produced films to the USA. If there is enough outrage from Australia, the entire AUKUS deal from Scott Morrison’s days might be cancelled by Donald Trump. Here’s hoping for that $300 billion saving on a new conventional submarine deal with France.
The Prime Minister’s engagement with China also provides opportunities to foster sustainable accords on points of strategic differences over relations with Taiwan and China’s strategic outreach into those formerly uninhabited atolls in the South China Sea. Anthony Albanese is no patsy of the Chinese government.
There have been long-standing provocations by the US Global Alliance in our region which commenced with the testing of nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands during the Cold War era and the continued use of former Japanese bases on Hainan Island by Britain and France to bomb localities liberated by Ho Chi Minh during the first Vietnamese war (1945-54).
Later strategic bases were upgraded in Guam and the Marshall Islands during the Second Vietnamese war (1954-75). Even under the Obama administration, the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement of 2014, the US has access to nine Filipino bases. This access has been extended to HMAS Stirling near Perth under the AUKUS arrangements for attack class nuclear powered submarines whose nuclear weapons status is ambiguous.
Lobbying Donald Trump for more commitment to the LNP’s AUKUS deal of 2021 is a misguided strategic option. Billions would be saved through a return to Malcolm Turnbull’s conventional submarine deal. Instead, LNP Defence Spokesman, Angus Taylor makes a poignant appeal to Donald Trump which ignores his attacks on Australian sovereignty with higher tariffs on exports of pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum and Australian movie productions (Defence Opposition’s Media Release 12 June 2025):
Reports today that the AUKUS agreement is under review by the US Pentagon are deeply concerning and add to a growing list of issues in Australia’s relationship with the United States – a relationship that took another hit just yesterday.
The Prime Minister must urgently seek a direct meeting with President Trump to safeguard the AUKUS agreement and ensure Australia’s national interests are protected.
Reports today that Mr Albanese’s scheduled meeting with the US President are in limbo are troublesome. You don’t project strength by undermining alliances. Australia must show it’s serious, consistent, and committed. If this review has been triggered by the Albanese Government’s refusal to commit to increased defence spending and its sanctioning of two Israeli ministers, then the government has very serious questions to answer about how it is managing our most critical allies.
Fernando Vives of SBS (2 May 2025) has warned of the revolving door being opened by opportunistic Australian defence chiefs, security analysts and politicians in their lobbying efforts more military industrial companies from both sides of Australian politics. Details of these connections are available from LinkedIn. The AUKUS Forum has over 40,000 followers on LinkedIn (19) AUKUS Forum: Posts | LinkedIn).
History offers readers are more moderate scenario even during the Cold War era. Australia’s pathway to profitable trading and investment ties with China commenced in the early 1960s with the sale of wool and wheat during the Menzies era. It should not be a radical and contested agenda sixty years later as advocated by hardliners in the LNP and the Murdoch Press and Sky News outlets.
Under Malcolm Turnbull’s guardianship, representatives from the Chinese PLA participated in a training exercise Pandaroo in Sydney in September as summarized by Nine News (26 September 2017). A year earlier representatives of the Chinese Navy (PLAN) participated in the maritime Exercise Kakadu off the Arnhem Land coast.
China’s President Xi had made a triumphal visit to Australia as an extension to the G20 Summit in Brisbane during the Abbott years. The sequel included an address to a joint sitting of Parliament on 17 November 2014.
The independence shown by former LNP Governments in strategic policy initiatives was strengthened when Malcolm Turnbull deposed Tony Abbott as LNP leader in September 2015. The fresh winds of change lasted just three years.
On 26 April 2016, Malcolm Turnbull announced that the French Naval Group had won the contract for the replacement of the Collins Class submarine at a cost of $90 billion for delivery in the early 2030s. Hardliners in the Australian LNP with support from defence and intel leaders supported an internal coup against Malcolm Turnbull. Peter Dutton failed in his first spill motion but Scott Morrison succeeded days later 24 August 2018. The style of LNP strategic policies were permanently changed by this internal coup within the LNP.
Scott Morrison was soon confident enough to announce the cancellation of the French submarine contract in favour of the AUKUS deal with the US and Britain on 15 September 2021. The change in strategic directions was a win for the military industrial complexes in both the US and Britain.
Commitment to defence lobbying is on the rise in US politics with estimate of the extent of this financial lobbying rising again to $150 million during 2024 (Open Secret Defense Lobbying • OpenSecrets). Details of similar lobbying efforts in Australia are more difficult to unravel.
The Murdoch Press network and its Sky News Outlet are vital agencies for spreading fear strategies against our most profitable trading and investment partner. These fear strategies work. LinkedIn is a great resource for unravelling the less than well reported details of Australian politics and can be a rewarding personal initiative.
While these lobbying antics continue, Chinese investment in Australia decreased by 57 percent, from US$1,420 million in 2022 to US$613 million according to KPMG. In Australian dollar terms, the decrease is 56 percent from AU$2,103 million in 2022 to AU$917 million. Eleven completed transactions were recorded in 2023. 2023 is the second lowest year in investment value and the joint-lowest year in number of investment transactions (the same as 2021) since 2006.
The reduced level of Chinese investment extends into quite safe non-strategic areas of Energy (48 percent) and then Food and Agribusiness (40 percent). Real estate investment is a mere 1 percent of all Chinese investment here.
Readers should contest the strategic dance with the Trump administration. ABC News (17 July 2025) summarises the current state of play with our most profitable trading and investment partner as a concluding postscript.
Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building on the critical issues raised in each article. Your comments on this and related articles can be recorded on theaimn.net site.
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The inevitable Trump meeting with Albanese first requires a polite invitation from The White House for Albanese to visit the US : that’s how it’s done.
Clearly Albo is not going to go to Washington uninvited and hang around in the Rose Garden hoping for an encounter with the Trumper. So SKY and News Corp and the Liberals need to pull in their collective heads and acknowledge that when an invitation is received, Australia will, subject to other commitments, be happy to meet up with the POTUS.
Alliances with the UK (as well as USA) have had disastrous outcomes for Australia. The UK used Australia for its’ nuclear weapons testing ground in the 1950’s and once complete left an uninformed and damaged (nuclear exposed) indigenous community plus a contaminated landscape that will never be free of remaining nuclear detritus. Compensation claims for exposed Australian military personnel are still in the courts awaiting resolution. As for the USA, we are grateful for the outcome of the WW2 Battle of the Coral Sea however Australia returned the favour in Korea and with 500+ young Australian lives during the ill-fated Viet Nam War – a conflict that never was a threat to either Australia’s or USA’s security. Australia’s security primarily lies in our future relationships with our Asian neighbours – not UK, Europe or North America. Our slavish acquiescence to Trump’s erratic foreign policy decisions simply displays our politicians’ inability to create original thought when considering foreign affairs policy. Australian citizens, by and large, pride themselves as being free and independent- it is a shame that our elected politicians and their unelected advisors are unable to enact the people’s will.
Our defence against becoming yet another US state like Greenland and Canada
Angeles City in the Philippines was taken over by US R & R personnel near former air and naval bases: Hardly a democratic outcome in a country occupied by the USA for half a century after the Spanish left
The biggest prize of all would be the cancellation of AUKUS: More money for social housing and indigenous development projects in our most deprived communities
Denis, Thanks for a well-researched article on Australia- China relations. Fostering good relations in our region is important for trade and investment ties.
Denis, Thanks for your article on Australia- China relations. Fostering good relations in our region is important for trade and investment ties.
Thanks for taking the time to lay this out, Denis. It’s reassuring to see the discourse finally catching up to where some of us have been for a while. The economic and strategic contradictions in the AUKUS alignment have been glaring for years, but your piece does a solid job of spelling them out for those just tuning in. Let’s hope it sparks some overdue critical thinking before we sink another $300 billion into performative defence theatrics.