{"id":67355,"date":"2025-08-14T10:11:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T10:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/67355\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T10:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T10:11:16","slug":"huge-win-for-china-warning-to-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/67355\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Huge win for China\u2019: Warning to Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukraine\u2019s ambassador is warning of a growing threat from China and Russia as Australia marks the end of World War II in the Pacific, saying what happens in his country could \u201copen a Pandora\u2019s box\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n

On August 15, 1945, the Japanese unconditionally surrendered after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands and unveiling the terrifying might of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

The devastating attack came after nearly four years of heavy fighting that saw Japanese planes bomb Darwin \u2013 the only foreign attack on Australian soil.<\/p>\n

Most of the nearly 40,000 Australians who died fighting the Axis powers lost their lives defending the country against Japan\u2019s efforts to take the Pacific.<\/p>\n

In a statement to NewsWire, Veterans Affairs Minister Matt Keogh said August 15 was \u201can important opportunity to acknowledge our greatest generation \u2013 both the veterans still with us and those long lost\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sacrifices they made shall never be forgotten,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Mushroom<\/p>\n

The US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, instantly killing at least 70,000. Picture: News Corp Australia \/ Archive<\/p>\n

\"1945:<\/p>\n

The second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, killed another 80,000. Picture: News Corp Australia \/ Archive<\/p>\n

Eighty years on, the spectre of conflict looms large in the region, with Xi Jinping\u2019s desires on Taiwan driving fears of an \u201cimminent\u201d threat, as the Trump administration describes it.<\/p>\n

China is the big fish, but Russia too has a formidable presence in the region, as it showed just last week with \u201croutine\u201d war games with the Chinese.<\/p>\n

Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine\u2019s envoy in Canberra, told NewsWire that Australia should keep a close eye on the deepening defence ties between Beijing and Moscow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndonesia and Russia hosted joint naval exercises in November of last year \u2013 why?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would Russian corvettes would need to be that close to Australia?<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there any specific reason why the Russians could be requesting from the Indonesians an air base to locate their strategic bombers? To do what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Pandora\u2019s box\u2019<\/p>\n

Mr Myroshnychenko is no stranger to Vladimir Putin\u2019s war schemes.<\/p>\n

The Russian President ordered the invasion of his country just weeks after his appointment as ambassador to Australia.<\/p>\n

Mr Putin is set to meet Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday (local time) to discuss a peace deal for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has not been invited.<\/p>\n

Mr Myroshnychenko was hesitant to pre-empt the talks but said if Ukraine is told to cede territory to Russia, it could be a \u201cblueprint\u201d for Australia as it manages an increasingly militaristic rivalry with China.<\/p>\n

\"China<\/p>\n

China and Russia are deepening their defence and economic ties. Picture: Russian Presidential Press Office \/ Handout<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is dismantlement of the rules based international system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA permanent member of the UN Security Council, which has nuclear weapons, can change borders by force.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a kind of blueprint which will be in place if the Russians are rewarded for their war of aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it would \u201copen up a Pandora\u2019s box in the South China Sea\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will embolden and inspire other authoritarian leaders, of which they all are authoritarian here in the region,\u201d Mr Myroshnychenko said, noting a handful of exceptions, such as New Zealand and Japan.<\/p>\n

With few democracies around Australia and international norms crumbling, he said \u201cyou need to be strong\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to have strong military,\u201d Mr Myroshnychenko said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to have the available capabilities that could deter a potential enemy from taking over Australia, or hurting your interests, or even just projecting power and coercing you.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be a huge win for China and a huge win for other authoritarian leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the fact that Russia is a Pacific country means Australia has skin in the game in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a huge Pacific fleet with strategic bombers, nuclear submarines, and they are interested in projecting global power,\u201d Mr Myroshnychenko said.<\/p>\n

\"Ambassador<\/p>\n

Ukrainian Ambassador to Ukraine Vasyl Myroshnychenko says Australia should keep an eye on deepening defence ties between China and Russia. Picture: Marin Ollman \/ NewsWire<\/p>\n

He is not the first to stress the links between events in Europe and the simmering Indo Pacific.<\/p>\n

China is pumping hundreds of billions into Russia\u2019s economy, fuelling the Kremlin\u2019s war machine.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, growing numbers of North Korean troops are joining Moscow\u2019s forces on the front lines in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The regional uncertainty is not lost on Canberra.<\/p>\n

Both Labor and the opposition often caution Australia is facing \u201cthe most strategically challenging circumstances\u201d since the Second World War.<\/p>\n

With self-evident parallels of warring parties in Europe and tinderbox conditions in the Indo-Pacific, Mr Keogh said Victory in the Pacific Day was a reminder of the \u201crelationships forged\u201d out of the worst war ever waged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis day of commemoration is an important reminder of our place in the world, the importance of the relationships forged in the Second World War \u2013 alliances that continue to be important to this day, and the need to ensure stability in our region into the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ukraine\u2019s ambassador is warning of a growing threat from China and Russia as Australia marks the end of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,512,53565,53566,44,53563,2016,5525,53564],"class_list":["post-67355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-matt-keogh","tag-mr-myroshnychenko","tag-news","tag-pandoras-box","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-vasyl-myroshnychenko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67355","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=67355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}