The new military agreement between the US, UK and Australia puts paid to the “worrying spectre” of declining American power, says Adam Creighton in The Australian. Washington’s top mandarins are wise to see the “necessity” of the world’s top English-speaking countries sticking together to counter “growing Chinese belligerence”. Canada has fallen behind in the international defence pecking order, and the less said about New Zealand “kowtowing to Chinese interests” the better.
The spanking new AUKUS agreement breathes life into Biden’s “pivot to Asia”, which is good news for Australians: we’re much more worried about long-term longevity than “random acts of Islamic terrorism”. And we’ve been promoted from “deputy sheriff”, as George W Bush called us, to sheriff, with our own fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. The combined forces of the three nations, together “far richer and more advanced” than China, will give President Xi greater pause before seeking to expand his sphere of influence politically. The US, UK and Australian governments deserve much credit for forging a new alliance that caught even seasoned observers in Washington by surprise. “China will be furious.”