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Senior military representatives from Australia and the United States have reaffirmed a commitment to strengthening defence collaboration amid heightened threats to the ruled-based order in the Indo-Pacific.
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Chief of the Defence Force, General Angus Campbell, AO, DSC has met with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and Commander, US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Chris Aquilino at the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defense (CHODS) Conference in Sydney.
The meeting centred on exploring opportunities to strengthening the Australia–United States alliance to preserve the “rules-based international order” and maintain “peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific”.
This included an endorsement of the Marine Rotational Force Darwin and Enhanced Air Cooperation, described as a “tangible example” of efforts to bolster defence capabilities and interoperability through joint exercises and activities.
The counterparts stressed the importance of supporting the sovereignty of nations across the Indo-Pacific amid growing instability.
“Australia is committed to regional security, preserving peace through maintaining an open, inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific,” General Angus Campbell said following the conclusion of the meeting.
“As military chiefs, we all have a role in achieving that outcome.”
Earlier in the week, General Mark Milley specifically called out China’s behaviour in the region, flagging a “several-fold” increase in aircraft intercepts and a ramp-up in maritime aggression in the South China Sea.
“We know that in the air and maritime domains, their activity is much more assertive, much more aggressive, much more confrontational than it was, say five years or 10 years or 15 years ago,” General Milley said.
“The Chinese, at least their activity seems to imply that they want to bully or dominate, as opposed to having a free and open [Indo-Pacific].”
General Milley dismissed claims the United States and its allies were provoking China by strengthening multinational forums like the Quad and AUKUS.
Beijing has previously compared the mechanisms to NATO expansion in eastern Europe.
“There is no intent by anyone that I’m aware of, quote unquote, surrounding China or doing something that would provoke China,” General Milley said.
“No one is aggressing against China, and no one conducted an aggression against Russia. Those are false narratives that are out there for purposes that are best answered by those respective capitals.”
A joint media statement released following the meeting in Sydney also reaffirmed the commitment to AUKUS, enhancing technology-sharing in support of Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines and other advanced technologies, including hypersonics and artificial intelligence.
The meeting between the military chiefs comes just weeks after Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles visited the United States for high-level discussions with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
In an address to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Deputy Prime Minister flagged the “intensification of major power competition”, threatening to “transcend geographic confines”.
Given these challenges, Minister Marles stressed the US-Australia alliance “can’t afford to stand still” but would instead need to contribute to a “more effective balance of military power” in the Indo-Pacific, aimed at “avoiding a catastrophic failure of deterrence”.
[Related: Force Posture Review slated for ‘early next year’]
