Australia must be ready for war with China within the next three years as concerned experts warn that the communist superpower is gearing up to invade Taiwan.
A panel of five leading national security analysts warned of fears that China has set its sights on invading Taiwan sooner rather than later and that Australia will be drawn into a conflict it is woefully not ready for, the experts said. Nine newspapers.
“The need to dramatically strengthen our military and national security capabilities is urgent, but Australia is not prepared,” the panel said in a joint statement.
‘The most important thing is a psychological turnaround. Urgency must replace complacency. The past decades of tranquility were not the norm in human affairs, but an anomaly.
“Australia’s holiday in history is over.”
Australia must be ready to fight China within three years, a panel of security experts has warned (pictured Chinese special forces conducting training in February)
The statement’s signatories include former senior defense official Peter Jennings, Macquarie University Senior Lecturer in Strategic Studies Lavina Lee, former Chief Scientist Alan Finkel, National Institute of Strategic Resilience Chair Lesley Seebeck and retired Major General Mick Ryan.
Australia’s apparent complacency in the face of the looming threat of war between China and the US over Taiwan, which all five agreed would involve Australia as an ally of America, could cost the nation dearly.
Professor Finkel warned that China’s military technology should not be underestimated, as he said the US had sometimes done.
“You would think that if the Chinese attacked this region, you would see the buildup of troops and missiles,” he said.
“But what if it was a bio-attack, a virus? You wouldn’t see anything.
“We have to invest in our biosecurity, our cybersecurity, our military hardware as if it could happen tomorrow.”
The five panelists agreed that China was taking seriously its threats to “reunite” with Taiwan, which the mainland’s ruling Communist Party considers a renegade province.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (pictured) could be pushed to implement his threat of ‘reunification’ with Taiwan sooner rather than later, experts say
They based this on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “aggressive stance and rapid military buildup,” which has given China a “growing ability and sense of entitlement.”
Ominously, the panel also warned that the balance of power was rapidly moving in China’s favor compared to the US and its allies.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine showed that all-out war poses a very real threat to international order, the panelists agreed.
“We’ve just seen (what’s happening) in Ukraine where authoritarian leaders want to establish their legacy,” Professor Seebeck said.
“This is the tipping point we are looking at. And that’s what really worries me about the urgency for the next three to five years.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) is about to receive a major defense review and his government has already announced a number of major defense weapons purchases
While the stalled invasion of Ukraine might make China waver about invading a neighboring country, the pundits paradoxically reasoned that it could encourage an earlier move by China, which could see the debacle as valuable lessons.
Another reason it could prompt China to act more quickly is because the conflict in Ukraine is draining the ammunition and weapons of potential enemies that are being sent to the Ukrainian armed forces.
The panelists also agreed that China, crippled by Covid shutdowns and experiencing economic turmoil, could also make the Asian giant in a weakened state more dangerous directly.
“My view is that a weak China is much more dangerous from a national security point of view than a strong China,” Jennings said.
“A weak China thinks, ‘I might have one chance here.'”
The panel felt that the Department of Defense had been too timid in warning Australians of the pressing danger of regional conflict.
If China attacked Taiwan, Australia would almost automatically go to war in alliance with the US, the panel agreed.
Australia would become a major regional base and could see 200,000 US troops pour in.
This heightens the threat of Chinese missile attacks on Australia’s military and other infrastructure, a dire scenario highlighted in February by the late Senator Jim Molan.
Senator Molan said Australia could be rendered almost defenseless by a sneaky Chinese missile attack on the US ahead of an invasion of Taiwan.
Senator Jim Molan (pictured) warned Australia was at risk of attack
Molan, who was a major general before entering politics, told Sky News that Australia must be ready for such an attack or end up under China’s thumb, as he gave his last interview before dying of cancer in January.
Federal Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten told Channel Nine on Tuesday that national security is the government’s top priority, but they are seeking good relations with China.
“We have to work with China, we have always had to maintain our own national security and our own defense interests,” he said.
“People want to hear this morning that the government is doing everything we can on defense and national security.
Are we also trying to maintain a constructive bilateral relationship with China? Yes. We participate where we can, but disagree where necessary.’
The Albanian government is about to release a major defense study and has announced major upgrades in land and sea missiles and naval mines ahead.
Although the Albanian government has thawed relations with China, the 2021 AUKUS deal, which commits Australia to a defense pact with the US and Britain and the purchase of nuclear-powered submarines, remains a source of criticism from Beijing.
