China condemns US base in Darwin
The Australian, 1 December 2011
CHINA has issued an official condemnation of Australia’s decision to have 2500 troops from the US based in Darwin, branding the move as “Cold War thinking” and a threat to regional stability.
The comments from the country’s Defence Ministry revealed on its website last night came only two days after the People’s Liberation Army completed two days of search-and-rescue drills will the Australian Defence Force in the southern province of Chengdu.
“Military alliances were created by history,” Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said at the organisation’s regular monthly briefing in Beijing, which foreign media are not allowed to attend.
“We think that all moves to strengthen and expand military alliances are a product of Cold War thinking that run counter to the era’s trend of peace, development and co-operation.”
“Any other military theory aimed at provoking confrontation and safeguarding one’s security at the price of another’s is also backward-thinking,” he said.
While the comments were not as vehement as some in the English-language version of Communist Party mouthpieces Global Times and People’s Daily, they represent the first considered response from a bureaucracy which typically takes some weeks to digest major announcements.
The comments also come days after outspoken Chinese General Luo Yuan described the Australian strategy, along with moves by the US to improve its ties with South East Asian nations including its former enemy Vietnam, as a plan to encircle China.
It is the second time in two weeks China has invoked the Cold War to describe Australia and signals that tensions are once again threatening to rise between Australia and its largest trading partner.
In response to an accusation by Professor Des Ball that China was using an Australian satellite tracking station for military purposes, China’s embassy spokesman in Canberra Miao Miao issued a denial.
“In fact, the Australian government recently clearly confirmed that the station is entirely for ‘commercial and civilian purposes’,” Ms Miao said.
“China is Australia’s largest trading partner, and any attempt to spread Cold War remnants is against the trend of the time. It is not good for China, Australia and the future of the Asia-Pacific region.”
The decision to base US troops on Australian soil is the second time in three years that the Australian government has attracted the ire of China over military matters.
China was incensed when the 2009 Defence White Paper – at the urging of then prime minister Kevin Rudd – named China as a potential military threat and a key reason behind a recommendation to bulk up Australia’s submarine fleet.
That contributed to horror year in Australia-China relations along with the arrest of four Rio Tinto executives, including Australian Stern Hu, and the granting of a visa to Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, who Beijing calls a terrorist.