Taiwan not a ‘vital Australian interest’ and Aukus submarines like throwing ‘toothpicks at a mountain’: former PM Paul Keating urges Canberra not to provoke China

Ex-Labour Party leader takes Canberra to task for provoking Beijing, saying nuclear subs it will acquire in deal with US and Britain will be outdated quickly

Keating, an advocate of firmer Asia Pacific ties, also defends Beijing’s wolf warrior diplomacy and urges Australia to stay out of US-China Taiwan conflict

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The Los Angeles-class submarine USS San Francisco in Apra Harbor, Guam. Photo: Getty images

Published: 10:03pm, 10 Nov 2021Updated: 8:09am, 11 Nov 2021

In a harsh criticism of Australia’s recent policies in the Asia Pacific, the country’s former prime minister Paul Keating has taken Canberra to task for missteps ranging from a deal to acquire nuclear submarines to what he called “a deterioration in our strategic setting”.

Keating, who during his time in office had expanded Australian engagement in the region, also urged Canberra not to be drawn into a conflict involving Taiwan, saying the fate of the self-ruled island was “not a vital Australian interest”.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Keating criticised the plan to acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines under the recently announced Aukus security alliance with the United States and Britain.

Keating, who led a centre-left Labour Party government from 1991 to 1996, said that by the time the submarines finally arrived in Australia in 2040, they would be so outdated that using them would be “like throwing toothpicks at a mountain”. He expected Australia’s submarines to be based on the US Virginia-class design, rather than the British Astute-class.

In September, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison cancelled a contract with France for 12 conventional submarines in favour of the new partnership with the US and UK which would give Canberra the technology to build nuclear submarines for the first time.

Last week, a newly released Pentagon report said that as of 2020 China’s navy had 355 ships and submarines. It said the Chinese navy had placed a high priority on modernising its submarine forces, operating six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines, and 46 diesel-powered attack submarines.