{"id":17884,"date":"2025-07-24T06:33:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T06:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/17884\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T06:33:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T06:33:12","slug":"china-threat-scott-morrison-urges-deeper-us-australia-ties-to-counter-rising-military-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/17884\/","title":{"rendered":"China threat: Scott Morrison urges deeper US-Australia ties to counter rising military action"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged the United States to deepen its alliance with Australia to deter the rising military threat from China.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Communist party was hoping Western democracies \u201cgo to sleep on the threat\u201d posed by its global ambitions and was trying to \u201cneutralise\u201d Australian public support for an increase in defence spending or restricting investment in critical technologies, he said.<\/p>\n

Australian public awareness about the threat was \u201csomewhat in jeopardy,\u201d he said, referring to a Lowy Institute poll showing more Australians see China as an economic partner than a security threat.<\/p>\n

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Mr Morrison made his forthright comments to the US House of Representatives select committee on the strategic competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), warning members to \u201cnever become casual\u201d about the military and economic risks emerging from Beijing.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel (L) and former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (R). Credit: ANDREW HARNIK\/Getty Images via AFP<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PRC [People\u2019s Republic of China] still continues to engage in intimidatory behaviour by their military against Australia when it suits them without remorse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The CCP\u2019s tactics had changed but objectives remained the same, he added, naming the weakening of US alliances and partners in the Indo-Pacific, the non-peaceful absorption of Taiwan and the isolation of US influence as key priorities.<\/p>\n

In his statement, the former prime minister did not specifically mention the ongoing Pentagon review of the $368 billion trilateral AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine program but argued for stronger ties between like-minded democracies.<\/p>\n

Australia this week paid the US another $800 million instalment for the program, the second this year, despite concerns in Canberra about the outcome of the review led by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby to test the program\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d credentials.<\/p>\n

A defence spokesperson said the payment was part of a previously agreed proportionate contribution of US$2b to the United States industrial base, to accelerate US production rates and maintenance to deliver future Virginia class submarines.<\/p>\n

Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth told Sunrise the payment schedule showed the Government expects the AUKUS agreement to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not surprising that the US is reviewing this, but we expect that this agreement will continue \u2026 So this was part of the schedule of payments that was always in place when we signed the deal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have signed an arrangement. We\u2019re committed to that arrangement. We intend to see it through.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his testimony to the committee, Mr Morrison said, \u201cwhile our histories differ, Australia and the US see the world through a similar lens\u201d and had been able to \u201cidentify the rising threat from authoritarian states\u201d seeking hegemonic control over their own regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Government of the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC) is such a regime. This will not change. Nor can it be negotiated away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Morrison spoke of his own experience as Prime Minister when China had deployed \u201ctargeted illegal trade bans and diplomatic estrangement\u201d costing the economy $20 billion after a dispute over the origins of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt that the primary objective of the PRC\u2019s targeting of Australia during this time was to make an example of Australia as a key US ally in the region. To punish Australia as a warning to others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Morrison urged the US Congress members to \u201cdouble down\u201d on its economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific to counter Beijing\u2019s influence, arguing that economic security was the main priority for many countries in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

But asked later by journalists about whether President Trump\u2019s punishing tariff regime would push Indo-Pacific countries closer to China, Mr Morrison said he was enacting his election-winning mandate, reported the Australian Financial Review.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Prime Minister Scott Morrison testifies during a House Select Committee on China hearing on Capitol Hill. Credit: Mariam Zuhaib\/AP<\/p>\n

Mr Morrison\u2019s intervention created ripples in Canberra on Thursday, just days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese returned from a six-day trip to China that focused mainly on widening trade and business ties.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve committed to is stabilising the relationship with China and restoring $20 billion dollars\u2019 worth of trade, which is all about jobs for Australians and seizing more economic opportunities but having an open dialogue with all our international partners,\u201d said Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy in response to Mr Morrison\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will cooperate where we can, but disagree where we must,\u201d he said, repeating the Prime Minister\u2019s mantra on China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged the United States to deepen its alliance with Australia to deter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,84],"class_list":["post-17884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}