My Take | Vassalise allies, destabilise the rest is now US strategy in Indo-Pacific
- Divide and conquer, well-honed in Middle East and Latin America over decades, is being applied to only real growth engine of world economy
A peaceful and prosperous Asia? Think about it, there is no upside in that for the United States. This is especially so because there is no scenario in which that doesn’t also mean a more stable, prosperous and, therefore, even more powerful China.
For the US to contain China must also mean impoverishment and instability for its neighbours, intentionally or as collateral damage.
That is the real meaning behind the hatefest currently taking place at Nato’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington. For an alliance that has “North Atlantic” in its name, it’s extraordinary that it now spends as much time fretting about China as Russia, against which it is waging a hot proxy war.
The purest expression of this US strategy in Asia has been Australia’s costly deal for nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus security partnership with the United Kingdom and the US.
In a new book, Australian investigative journalist Andrew Fowler has delivered the proverbial smoking gun, courtesy of David Gould, former British undersecretary for defence hired by Canberra as consultant for a programme to replace the country’s ageing submarines.
“Gould revealed for the first time what has long been suspected: one of the submarine’s most important requirements would be to work with the Americans in the South China Sea,” Fowler wrote in Nuked: The Submarine Fiasco that Sank Australia’s Sovereignty.
“He explained that the submarine would need ‘to get through the archipelago to the north of Australia and into the South China Sea and operate in the South China Sea for a reasonable period of time and then come back again, without docking, or refuelling or anything. That’s what it needs to do.’”