By Denis Bright
The W.H.O. Assembly reached a remarkable consensus on the need to investigate the spread of COVID-19. Australia co-sponsored the initiatives at the Assembly as part of a team effort by thirty-five other players, including the European Union with its twenty-seven additional states.
Regrettably, this achievement received far less attention than the evolving war of words between Australia and China. Australia was a loyal player in the Trump Administration’s efforts to marginalise Chinese influence across the Indo-Pacific Basin.
Australia’s Defence Connect (20 May 2020) called for even greater loyalty to the US Global Alliance from Australia in this time of crisis over the spread of COVID-19:
“It is Australia’s indispensable relationship, the core of our national security and the key enabler, that has allowed Australia to freely engage and prosper within the post-Second World War order. However, in an era of mounting great power competition and disruption, the US-Australia relationship will become ever more important, explains retired Army officer Jason Thomas.”
Now to earlier reports in Defence Connect (24 April 2020) on Australia’s involvement in joint patrols in the South China Sea with US naval vessels.
“The Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Parramatta (FFG 154) began sailing with Ticonderoga Class guided missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) then rendezvoused with amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) and Arleigh-Burke Class guided missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) on 18 April.
Their combined operations started with force integration training and manoeuvring exercises between Parramatta and Bunker Hill.
Captain Kurt Sellerberg, Commanding Officer of the USS Bunker Hill, welcomed the opportunity to operate with the Royal Australian Navy again, saying, “It is great to be operating with the Australians again. Every time I have deployed to this region, and to the Middle East, I have had the good fortune to operate with the Royal Australian Navy.”
Operations with USS America started with a precision manoeuvres that included Barry in the South China Sea.
Rear Admiral Fred Kacher, Commander of the America Expeditionary Strike Group, said, “We look forward to every opportunity we get to work with our stalwart Australian allies at sea.
“To bring this much combat capability together here in the South China Sea truly signals to our allies and partners in the region that we are deeply committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Operations with Parramatta have included integrated live fire exercises, co-ordinated helicopter operations, small boat force protection drills, command and control integration, and manoeuvring interoperability.”
Only political insiders could explain the apparent contrasts between operations on the high seas and the productive diplomacy at the W.H.O. Assembly. Here are key clauses from the resolution which was carried unanimously and without amendment.
OP9.10 Initiate, at the earliest appropriate moment, and in consultation with Member States, 1 a stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation, including using existing mechanisms, 2 as appropriate, to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to COVID-19, including:
(i) the effectiveness of the mechanisms at WHO’s disposal;
(ii) the functioning of the IHR and the status of implementation of the relevant recommendations of the previous IHR Review Committees;
(iii) WHO’s contribution to United Nations-wide efforts; and (iv) the actions of WHO and their timelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, and make recommendations to improve global pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacity, including through strengthening, as appropriate, WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme;
OP9.11 Report to the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly, through the 148th session of the Executive Board, on the implementation of this resolution.
OP9.9 Ensure that the Secretariat is adequately resourced to support the Member States granting of regulatory approvals needed to enable timely and adequate COVID-19 countermeasures.
How can Australians understand the gyrations in our defence and foreign policies? Here are two contradictory explanations.
Tentative Explanation 1: Australia wanted to act as an honest independent country in coming to terms with the horrific spread of COVID-19 as the number of cases approaches 5 million with an extra 4,500 deaths each day recently and a total death toll of almost 350,000. It was clearly within Australia’s strategic and commercial interests to cool the war of words between the Trump Administration and China. So much of Australia’s recent prosperity since the election of John Howard in 1996 was indeed due to the rise of China with its positive benefits for Australia from profitable trade in commodities and services with China as well as substantial net investment from China in the Australian economy:
Tentative Explanation 2: Australia was acting as a staunch ally of the Trump Administration to fester the war of words between the USA and China in the longer-term. President Trump would indeed use this war of words to appeal to his support base across the USA to maintain his hold on the votes from the Electoral College on 3 November 2020 as in the previous presidential election in 2016:
The two Tentative Explanations are of course not mutually exclusive. Should President Trump gain his cherished second term, his administration will certainly be on the offensive against a rise in the global strategic influence of China.
Reporters Julian Borger and Alison Rourke in The Guardian (19 May 2019) support this foreboding about our future in such a staunch political, economic and strategic alliance with the USA under current Australia United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) protocols which make Australia a virtual 51st state:
“Donald Trump has threatened to cut funding to the World Health Organization permanently and even pull the US out of the global body altogether unless it makes “major substantive improvements” which the president did not explain.
In a four-page letter to the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Trump claimed the organisation had shown an “alarming lack of independence” from China and accused Tedros of presiding over “repeated missteps … that have been extremely costly for the world”. The letter, he said, followed a US investigation into the WHO’s “failed response to the Covid-19 outbreak”.
Trump’s threat came on the day the WHO member states met for the first day of a two-day virtual assembly. Tedros had invited both Trump and Xi Jinping to speak, in the hope of resolving differences between the two leaders on handling the outbreak, but Trump did not take part.”
Commitment to a Space Warfare Agenda will be a crucial strategic initiative if President Trump is re-elected. This will require a network of ground stations in both global hemispheres including parts of the expanding NATO network across Europe where ties are being strengthened with countries like Georgia, the Ukraine and Poland.
Our own Pine Gap Base near Alice Springs will have a vital role to play in President Trump’s Space Warfare Agendas after 2021.
Sustainable peace across the Southern Hemisphere is still compromised by blind-spots in the UN Treaty arrangements to promote collective peace and security for our Indo-Pacific Basin. Can submarines bearing nuclear weapons transit across the oceans from Atlantic Ports in the USA to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and then move through the stormy waters of the Southern Ocean to cross the Pacific Ocean?
Although most countries have ratified the Outer Space Treaty (OST) of 1967, there are still grey areas in the protective cover available. This permits accurate targeting of military vessels in transit across the various Southern Oceans from surveillance bases like Pine Gap in Australia.
Monitoring of expanded geospatial surveillance is surely consistent with the need to monitor pandemic threats with power to assess new initiatives in surveillance from satellites in an era of renewed great power rivalry.
The Cold Fleet Report from the Royal Navy has been around for four years. There has been little discussion of the cost of Australia’s involvement in military initiatives to support geospatial surveillance of the windswept and dangerous oceans to the south of Australia.
A future federal LNP national government is likely to be highly enthusiastic about Australia’s involvement in US Space Warfare Programmes.
The appeal of a return to our traditional role as the Deputy Sheriff to any Republican Administration in the White House will be almost irresistible to future LNP Governments seeking a higher profile for Australia in the global strategic profile of the USA.
However, the possibilities of a more independent role for Australia in the Indo Pacific Basin should be just as irresistible. The surprising level of consensus-building at the W.H.O. Assembly could be extended to strategic policies. Trillions could be saved in expenditure on future space warfare programmes if nuclear weapons free zones were extended and perhaps the role of the Pine Gap Base transferred to the protection of these new treaty obligations.
Ironically, it is the US which is ready to take advantage of Chinese embargoes on the export of Australian commodities, services and more open Chinese investment (AFR 15 May 2020):
“China is preparing to slap steep tariffs on Australian barley imports after an 18-month anti-dumping investigation. China also this week suspended beef exports from four Australian abattoirs.
“US barley products have similar quality levels to Australian barley which is replaceable. It is a shame that Australia is losing its competitive advantage in beef and barley,” said Lin Guofa, an analyst with consulting firm Bric Agriculture Group.
“The suspension of the four abattoirs is designed to send a strong signal to deter Chinese traders to import beef from Australia. Most buyers will be fearful now about continuing their business with Australia.”
Commodities traders and state media played up the barley announcement, saying it highlighted China was less dependent on Australian agricultural imports than it used to be.
China has indirectly threatened to punish Australia economically after the Morrison government called for an independent inquiry into the origins of coronavirus pandemic.
One trader quoted a Chinese idiom “Kill the chicken to scare the monkey” which means making an example out of someone to threaten others. “With barley and beef, China is now using Australia as an example (to threaten other countries),” he said.”
However, on a positive note in the interests of our commercial and strategic relationships with the USA, there is a possibility that the USA will want to raise the banner of modernism to overcome the excesses of the Trump era. I am too remote from the USA to call the outcomes of the presidential elections on 3 November 2020, still several months before the actual event.
With Bob Dylan’s 79th Birthday approaching on 24 May 2020, Australians need to ask for real paradigm changes that distance our country from the eccentricities of the Trump Administration relating to both global action on COVID-19 and his future strategic plans to involve Australia in future space wars programmes.
The old folk song for more peaceful agendas is even more relevant today than in 1963 when it was recorded before President Kennedy’s assassination and released the following year.
Australia is being hurt commercially by its growing antagonism towards China, our best and most profitable trading partner. What is going on behind the scenes in the corridors of power in Canberra in the halls of the Defence and Foreign Affairs Departments to justify this wanton folly to protect US interests across the Indo-Pacific Basin?
Surely, the Trump Administration with the support of the Department of State and the Pentagon can fight their own battles with China. So, what is the real payoff for Australia in these difficult times? And if the war games in the South China Sea go astray, are Australians instantly at war with China through the chain of command in these joint patrols?
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Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building in these difficult times. Your feedback from readers advances the cause of citizens’ journalism. Full names are not required when making comments. However, a valid email must be submitted if you decide to hit the Replies Button.
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Scummo Sacked from Marketing has been outmanoeuvred by the PRC and left with egg all over his face ….. like the previous Deputy Dawg, Little Johnnie Howard, arguably the most destructive Prim Monster since Federation in 1901.
Compare Scummo’s performance doing nothing, or as little as possible, to benefit Australian voters, with the Jacinda Ardern approach.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/21/snap-back-jacinda-ardern-snaps-forward-with-a-four-day-week-no-wonder-shes-popular?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0d1YXJkaWFuVG9kYXlBVVMtMjAwNTIx&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTAU_email&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayAUS
If W W 3 starts soon, thanks to Donald Dildo stroking up the military foreplay, it may last one hour if all get pushed in, and we will last five minutes as Pine Gap alone is first up and will go, a chronic slavery slimy servile target imposed here for USA interests and outlook. Even if not a Chinese, Russian, U K or USA person has a little time to gloat over a first strike while waiting to be hit by the inevitable, automatic, mutually assured, destructive later waves. Even Bunnings and Harvey Norman, Chinese retail outlets, will evaporate. PUFF! Even Nixon and Reagan, two reeking stinkers, seem like eau de cologne comapared to the current onanistic orange orifice in office. But here, with defectives, duds and drongos in the big chairs we are furrily thucked.
My pick. The signs are all there
“Tentative Explanation 2: Australia was acting as a staunch ally of the Trump Administration to fester the war of words between the USA and China in the longer-term. President Trump would indeed use this war of words to appeal to his support base across the USA to maintain his hold on the votes from the Electoral College on 3 November 2020 as in the previous presidential election in 2016:”
And the signs are all here that will confirm it
“But here, with defectives, duds and drongos in the big chairs we are furrily thucked.”
It is ironic that the bastions of Capatalism and free enterprise America, Britain and Australia have wilfully and with mercenary intent sent tens of millions of their people into poverty and a lower standard of living and yet at the same time China has with great for thought and expense bought tens of millions, mabye hundreds of millions, of people out of poverty and a better life. Fact!
It is also possible that if Trump does win a second term, the China bashing will have served its purpose and he might then turn his twitter account on to other matters. Let’s hope so. What I have always feared is that America (USA) has never had foreign troops on its soil and the Americans do not have that experience as have the Russians and Chinese. The Russians and the Chinese can still remember in their own lifetimes what it is like to be invaded. I fear too many Americans live in the Hollywood lie.
I think most of the world have worked out that president Wun Dum-Fuc is all piss and wind. A blowhard, a mouth, empty threats, Blotus, the twitterer in chief, never met a dictator he didn’t fancy. Aided and abetted by deputy dawg, the sanctimonious smirking jerk, ready, at a moment’s notice, to kiss the ring, a bit of tongue just for old time’s sake. Two turds that just won’t flush. Twitter us into a war? You betcha, what better way to get this shitshow moving, a little economic stimulus, weed out a few more of the collaterals, a nuke here, a nuke there, perhaps the EMP burst might just short circuit a few plans, a few strategies, limit the collateral damage, less to rebuild, just move on in, takeover the subjugated populace.
Meanwhile, in a galaxy far far away, nature readies another barrage, short circuit everyone’s plans, climate change don’t sleep, like rust, fluck us all up. Cyclones, hurricanes, green ice growing in Antarctica, oceans heat, ecosystems dying. One way or the other, we are deep in the shit. Better chow down on that shit sandwich, get used to the taste.
Old Bloke
When a radio play gave them the impression they were being invaded they beshat themselves and bolted for the mountains. No Dunkirk for Uncle Sam!
Stalking Chinese vessels on the South China Sea is terrible payback for a generation of profitable trading and financial relationships between Australia and China .
Hi Dwayne. Yes that was the Orson Welles radio play production ‘War of the Worlds’ (HG Wells). Some erudite soul will win a Nobel Prize for analysis of the American psyche vis a vis Hollywood. I think the Kubrick film Dr. Strangelove probably explains much of their madness.
President Trump’s distrust of China is becoming his key election strategy withhis own support base at home. Both COVID-19 and the possibilities of war with China are horrific episodes in the history of humanity.
The commercial media concentrated on the number of coughs during the Treasurer’s presentation. This is quite a stylish alternative, Denis.
Couldn’t agree more Denis , it is an absolute embarrassment being seen as the deputy sheriff for the United States of America
Denis, thanks for an interesting well researched article. I think it’s important to maintain positive trade relations with China which will help Australia with it’s post CoVid economy.
Paul
“President Trump’s distrust of China is becoming his key election strategy”
If we read the reports right, Trump’s support is falling. But what is his winning slogan? Make America Great Again. How do despots consider the best way to increase their favor? Answer, by crushing a perceived/created enemy. Especially if your favor is not what it was. It’s not about distrust of China.
Leila
“it is an absolute embarrassment being seen as the deputy sheriff for the United States of America”
Not half as embarrassing as for this Govt if they had to admit to giving away our sovereignty to another country because of a dirty deal done behind the back of the newly elected leader of that country over a few refugees that we wanted to get rid of because refusing them asylum here was supposed to be protecting our sovereignty.
The LNP administration like Trump’s are playing stupid idiotic dangerous games and putting our whole country and livelihood at risk. Who or what gives them that right? Who will pick up the pieces? While the USA is using us, playing us just like Churchill did in Gallipoli, only more devious or worse, because we are not at war. We should find our own way in our region and make way for peaceful collaboration and prosperity while attending to the needs of and responsibilities to our planet. Instead Morrison, Dutton and the LNP – IPA morons are farce farting around like headless chickens, to think they are in any way going to scare the monkey or the panda. I’d prefer to make peace with the panda and let the monkey take responsibility for its own garbage, instead of being drawn and quartered on the sacrificial altar of American greed, abuse and capitalism.
Jon Chesterson
The Whitlam government wanted to make Australia a strong self-respecting nation with its own destiny. They wanted to ‘buy back the farm’. The CIA engineered the Dismissal with the compliance of the British and the Australian Liberal-Country Party.
The Australian people revealed just how ‘self-respecting’ they were, and how interested they were in in having their own destiny, by crushing the Whitlam experiment and at the same time actually all but destroying the ALP. Any subsequent ALP government -apart from the Rudd-Gillard government, which was equally ‘crushed’ – has been a pale version of the LNP. Hawke and Keating sold off more of the farm instead of buying it back.
You get the government you deserve. The Australian people elected Abbott and his subsequent rodents with their eyes wide open. The Morrison government is what Australians want. It cannot be argued otherwise.
Here in the Philippines Clark Air Base in Tarlac was an operational American Base until 1991. Now the Philippines has chartered a more idependent couse like your Australian neighbour New Zealand. The sleezy bars near Clark Air Base were a disgrace to the Philippines . In Angeles City, bars and call girl services were the major industries.as younger people tried to survive in a market economy with poor health services and fee-charging tertiary colleges. Stand up for your future Aussies, I say. Like Australia too we have 70,000 years of indigenous history in the Philippines as revealed by the archeological studies on Callao Man and the earliest Austronesians who settled our islands.
Time for Australia to take the New Zeland Road in foreign affairs in defence of our own sovereignty.
Chris, it long past time that Australian voters woke up to the reality that their sovereignty has never actually existed; it has always been an illusion created to keep the general public subjugate.
Australia’s behind the scenes work before the World Health Assembly has linked us up with other responsible middle ranking countries. Let’s continue this in defence policy.
Surely there won’t be a second term for Trump particularly after the handling of COVID-19.
Don’t forget to celebrate Bob Dylan’s birthday this weekend as President Trump becomes more bizarre and confused. Time for US citizens to actually register to vote to end the Global Political Circus with its focus on the Commander in Chief.
Tessa M
Trump has an unmovable hard core of voters. Nothing he does or says seems to change that. They seem to number 35-40% of the electorate. Since only about 65% of the US voters actually vote, a second term is not unlikely, particularly as the Democrats have, for the second consecutive presidential race, chosen the only person who could not inspire someone to get out and vote. I doubt that Bernie Sanders’ followers – still grieving his craven capitulation – will support his endorsement of Biden.
Tessa M
Of course he’ll get a second term. I’m in contact via internet forums etc with US citizens who otherwise are perfectly sane and reasoned people, but they support him to the hilt. You scratch your head in wonder, but there it is.
And don’t be surprised if he manages to change the constitution and go for a third. And win again. Democracy is being dismantled from within. Just as it is here.