TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) did not mention Taiwan or a potential military conflict with China over the country in an address discussing Australia’s security environment on Tuesday (April 11), despite recent media reports warning the country to prepare for war with China in the next three years.
ADF Chief General Angus Campbell spent most of his address outlining the expected nuclear submarine capabilities that Australia will gain through the recently signed AUS$368 billion (NT$7.61 trillion) AUKUS deal, and the war in Ukraine. Questions that followed mainly investigated the results of a war enquiry into the ADF’s conduct while fighting in Afghanistan that revealed numerous ADF war crimes, and while Campbell was asked what Taiwan’s freedom meant to Australia, he did not give specifics.
“I think that anything that undermines the security stability and the prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region in which we live is of interest to Australia," Campbell said in response. “When you unleash the dogs of war, you can’t necessarily be confident to contain the outcome, and as I say, a stable secure free and open Indo-Pacific for all nations is in Australia’s interest.”
Campbell was similarly elusive when asked about French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent comments that France should not “accelerate a crisis on Taiwan,” and said commenting would be “extraordinarily inappropriate.” “I think that nations pursue their national interest, and where that national interest is in common, you can build partnerships… that seek to reassure partners. I think that’s about as far as I can go,” Campbell said.
The ADF and Australian government are trying to increase “tiered dialogue” with Chinese armed forces, Campbell said. “And that’s important, I am interested to speak to my colleagues, all my colleagues, and I recognize that some of the power in those conversations is when you understand that you don’t see the world in the same way.”
Campbell’s address comes in the lead up to the Australian government’s response to the Australian Defence Strategic Review. Last undertaken in 2012, the strategic review is an analysis of the country’s defense capabilities “to meet the nation's security challenges over the period 2023-24 to 2032-33 and beyond.”
