A weekend report in the Financial Times that US Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Elbridge Colby has been privately pushing Australia and Japan for pre-commitment to support the US in a future Taiwan Strait contingency have raised serious challenges for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during his much-anticipated visit to China. It appears that Colby has focused on extracting “pre-commitments” from Canberra that yet- to-be delivered US-supplied submarines under the AUKUS deal support US forces in a war against China in the Indo-Pacific. The Albanese government is right to reject such calls as intruding on Australia’s sovereignty. No matter the importance of the alliance with Washington, what Australia decides to do with its military capabilities – and, contrary to Colby’s narrative, US-supplied submarines, when they eventually arrive, will be Australian property – is a matter for future Australian governments. The idea that a government today would lock in a future government to committing Australian military forces to a war that may or may not occur is ludicrous.
An AUKUS ultimatum for Australia over Taiwan risks backfiring on Washington | Lowy Institute
