In September, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States signed a security pact called AUKUS, which would help the Australian capital, Canberra, acquire nuclear submarines. The deal comes amid escalating tensions between the United States and China over Beijing’s aggression in the Taiwan Straits, where 150 warplanes recently violated the island’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
On Saturday, Australian Defense Secretary Peter Dutton told The Australian that it would be “unthinkable” for Australia not to help the United States if the latter moved to defend Taiwan. “I think we have to be very honest and sincere about it, to look at all the facts and circumstances without making a commitment in advance, and there may be times when we would not accept this choice, (but) I can not imagine these conditions, “Dutton said, according to Reuters.
China’s actions in the Taiwan Straits reflect President Xi Jinping’s plans to annex the island by 2027 with military force as required. In an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Victor Gao, who served as translator for Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, said those blocking unification efforts were “doomed to fail”.
“If Australia is going to fight alongside US troops in China’s bid for reunification between mainland China and Chinese Taiwan, then you are talking about the worst thing you could have ever dreamed of,” Gao said. “A war between China and the United States will soon escalate and that will be Armageddon.”
Gao, who currently serves as vice president of the China Intellectual Development Center (CCG), said Australia’s agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom made it “essentially a target” for China’s nuclear weapons. .
The United States and Taiwan have no formal diplomatic ties. However, the United States enacted the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which maintains the “ability of the United States to resist any form of violence or other coercion that would endanger the security or social or economic system of the people.” of Taiwan. ”
What observers are saying: Experts have differing views on the impending war in the Taiwan Straits. Australian Senator Jim Molan, a former Australian Army lieutenant general, believes China could “move at any time.”
“Basically, given the power they now have in their army, they could act at any time from now on,” Molan told 60 Minutes. “And this is what scares me more than anything else,” he continued.
Molan also said he believes the Chinese Communist Party aims to be regionally, and perhaps even globally, dominant. “This is a zero-sum game. [Η Κίνα] must move America away from the western Pacific to be sovereign in this region. “So simple,” Molan said.
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