SYDNEY: The United States will not seek permanent military bases in Australia
and nor would hosting one be in Canberra's interests, Foreign Minister Bob Carr
said on Saturday.
Australia has welcomed long-term
ally Washington's plans for an enhanced naval presence in the Pacific and last
year agreed to allow up to 2,500 US Marines to be deployed to a barracks near
the northern city of Darwin.
But Carr rejected the idea of a
permanent US military base in Australia.
"In fact, the Americans will
not seek it because of the cost involved at a time when they are going to have
to produce more cuts in their defence spending," he told Sky News.
"And second, because it
doesn't fit with the way they project power.
"But above all... it's not
in Australia's interest."
Carr said what Canberra liked
about US troops training in the country was that it was "in and out".
"They're here, and they're
out," he said, adding: "I don't think Australians will be comfortable
defining themselves with permanent American bases."
Washington's plan to bolster its
military presence in the strategically vital Asia-Pacific comes amid concerns
about China's increasing assertiveness.
The deployment of US Marines to
Darwin, the first of whom touched down in April on a six-month rotational
basis, has irked Beijing, which has described the Marines' presence as proof of
a "Cold-War mentality".
Carr said Canberra understood
China's military modernisation and accepted that its rise in economic power
would be matched by a defence upgrade.
"But just as we accept that,
you, the Chinese, must accept that we are a small population holding a large
continent and will, as we have done historically, look to an alliance with the
United States," he said.
"But we reject utterly any
notion of containing China. We look to engage with China."
- AFP/cc
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