Despite Fairfax’s “China set for Vanuatu military base” yarn falling in a heap, it has doubled down on the hype of a Chinese military threat to Australia. “China eyes Vanuatu military base in plan with global ramifications,” was the headline on the original story, though David Wroe’s actual piece was far more circumspect — he reported “preliminary discussions… about a military build-up… no formal proposals have been put to Vanuatu’s government, senior security officials believe Beijing’s plans could culminate in a full military base.”
Thus the base existed more in the minds of Australian “senior security officials” than in reality.
That didn’t stop other Fairfax commentators and various national security chinstrokers from going into overdrive. A Chinese base “would be the equivalent of Australia being placed in check”, according to Peter Hartcher. “There is nothing between Vanuatu and Queensland bar the Coral Sea,” he wrote, conjuring images of Chinese ships sailing unimpeded to invade Mackay. “The lights will burn bright in Russell tonight as a result of this,” predicted Malcolm Davis of the taxpayer-funded neoconservative thinktank ASPI. The Lowy Institute’s Jonathan Pryke declared it “it would be a provocative gesture and our cautious and more balanced approach may not last into the future.” Far-right MPs Andrew Hastie and Jim Molan weighed in to express alarm. Malcolm Turnbull declared it would be “of great concern”.
ANU and the Lowy Institute’s Rory Medcalf was more sceptical. “If true, there would be significant cause for concern,” he wrote, but thought there were more questions than answers. He was right. Not merely did the Chinese deny the story — well, they would, wouldn’t they — but the Vanuatu government denied it. “No one in the Vanuatu government has ever talked about a Chinese military base in Vanuatu of any sort,” said Vanuatu foreign minister Ralph Regenvanu, who also told the BBC he was “not very happy about the standard of reporting in the Australian media”.
Undeterred, Fairfax doubled down today with a piece from Wroe in Vanuatu about the Chinese presence there, especially the “a huge, high-walled compound hard to reconcile with the typical diplomatic work needed in a small country of just 280,000 people.” It was, he said, a “hulking” compound. But actual concern by local people about China was hard to find. There was water seller Jackie Willie, who thought “it is going to change everything” (it wasn’t clear what “it” was, but he was concerned about relations with China). “The Chinese take over everything so there is no chance for Vanuatu people,” said a woman selling fruit. The value of having Fairfax’s national security specialist vox-popping people on the streets of Port Vila wasn’t quite clear from the article.
For a glimpse of the opposite mindset, look no further than one of the fully paid-up members of the China Lobby, former ambassador to Beijing Geoff Raby, who in the pages of the Financial Review declared that Australia was “strategically confused” and that “President Xi Jinping was at the height of his powers and unchallenged in the exercise of his authority in the recently concluded National People’s Congress.”
That’s one way of putting Xi’s declaration of permanent personal dictatorship, but of course the China Lobby prefers to skate over such minor issues as autocracy, lack of rule of law and basic rights. Echoing Beijing’s talking points (in exactly the manner Clive Hamilton noted about all members of the China Lobby in his recent book), Raby lashed out at Australia’s participation in “the poorly conceived quadrilateral dialogue where Australia aligns itself closely with China’s strategic competitors”. In the eyes of Beijing and its enthusiastic western boosters, even discussions with other regional democracies like Japan, India and the United States are an offence.
Surely we can do better in domestic discussion of China than poorly founded hype from one side of the debate and parroting of Beijing’s talking points from the other?
Why does China need another base in the South Pacific? It has a 99 year lease on Darwin’s port. Let’s see what that leads to.
Why do the yanks need another base here? Why don’t we see what the current occupancy “leads to”?
I fail to grasp this: the usual Government duds huff & puff about a military base in Vanuatu while not batting an eye over a Chinese company’s 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin.
In addition to the Chinese company’s lease of Darwin Port, I am not happy that there are US bases in Australia.
And if Australia constantly withdraws all aid from the region, it can hardly complain when China steps in to fill the gaps we’ve left. And yes, J Bishop, I am looking at your department.
Ah yes, our so-called ‘foreign’ aid*. If our governments keep treating foreign aid as one of the budget items that can be constantly cut to keep the deficit under control (bugger chasing global corporations for a fair share of tax, or worrying about negative gearing, or discounted capital gains, or unsustainable handouts to wealthy retirees), and just keep buggering our South Pacific neighbours, yes, they might start looking elsewhere. Imagine that. I would even suggest Vanuatu crank up the volume.
* And even when we do spend on ‘foreign’ aid, how much of it actually ends up in the pockets of Australian consultants, companies, bureaucrats etc, rather than at the villageface, making a real difference to the lives of poor people?
On this issue PM Turnbull’s declaration “of great concern” is solely confined to manipulating compliant newsrooms to focus upon anything, anyone; so long as they cease focusing upon domestic politics.
“.. according to Peter Hartcher. “There is nothing between Vanuatu and Queensland bar the Coral Sea” amounts to something of a plagiarism. Take a look at the headline of the Oz when Russia invaded Afghanistan. The headline read “Russians 7,000 miles from Australia” The article didn’t bother to specify the distance to Germany or to the UK. Similar drivel was spewed into Australian towns/cities in 1853. Yep : the Crimea!
Can’t be too careful.
In any event : Welcome to the New Colonialism. China has improved the physical infrastructure of any number of 3rd world countries. Of course military bases are going to be “dotted” about where China currently is working with particular countries (duh!); read Sri Lanka, a good deal of Africa and the Pacific. Heads of such governments got
to the White House, on occasion, for a photograph only.
If anyone is worried then (1) get military spending to something like 10% of GDP, (2) reintroduce compulsory military training (17-34 years of age; minimum 1 month/year after initial three month training) and (3) fix the tax code. Alternatively : no nothing – including winging.
Before we all get too carried away (reading this crap) it might be worth taking a breath and contemplating China shopping elsewhere for products otherwise provided by Australia. In the game of chess such is known as a “pin”.
I also posted a link, recently, (ABC) referencing an increased military presence in Oz by Uncle Sam – or can we only have it one-way.
Large, strong ( hulking) buildings are invaluable in cyclone zones. Even in NQ there are shortages of suitable shelters and as we recently saw in the US storms they need more there as well. Perhaps when they have finished building hulking compounds there they could build a few here. I shall wait at the end of the rock pool with my binochs for suspicious looking ships coming across the Coral Sea that might be casing the joint.