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Both the Liberal-National government and the opposition Labor Party were quick to congratulate Joe Biden on his alleged rise to the US presidency and reaffirmed their commitment to the US military alliance, knowing that this signifies an escalated conflict with China. .
On Sunday, as soon as major US media networks called the presidential election for Biden, Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a statement welcoming Biden’s presidency. Like many of his counterparts in governments aligned with the United States, Morrison did not expect any concession of defeat from President Donald Trump.
Morrison’s statement was in tune with similar pronouncements from the other US-led “Five Eyes” global surveillance partners: the UK, Canada and New Zealand. That common response underscores the close military and intelligence ties that unite these governments with Washington and their support for the American ruling class in its struggle to reassert the Asia-Pacific hegemony that it cemented in World War II.
After wishing Biden “every success in his tenure”, Morrison’s statement stated: “The President-elect has been a great friend of Australia for many years, even when he visited Australia in 2016.”
Morrison insisted that “American leadership is indispensable” for the world’s “many challenges”, including the COVID-19 pandemic, “ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region” and “respecting the rules, norms and standards of our community. international”. “
These are keywords for an unequivocal alignment with Washington’s escalating confrontation with China, which was launched by the military and strategic “pivot to Asia” undertaken by the Obama administration, in which Biden was vice president.
Morrison redoubled this message in his press conference. “There is no relationship more important, deeper, broader, closer, or more critical to Australia’s strategic interests than the one we enjoy with the United States,” he said.
Morrison said he hoped Biden would visit Australia next year to mark the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS military treaty, saying it was the “foundation of our security bases.” This treaty was signed in 1951 at the height of the US-led neocolonial war in Korea, one of the consistent series of American wars in which Australian soldiers have been deployed.
At the same time, Morrison praised Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for “their contribution to the relationship between Australia and the United States.” In recent months, Pompeo has spearheaded the Trump administration’s threats against China, accusing Beijing of “aggression” in Asia-Pacific and of deliberately releasing the COVID-19 virus to the world.
When asked by a journalist to nominate “Trump’s legacy in the Indo-Pacific,” Morrison identified the re-establishment of the “Quad” between the US, Japan, India and Australia, which aims to strengthen military ties against China and the recent Malabar. naval exercises between the four partners off the east coast of India.
The Labor Party echoed this alignment against China. Labor leader Anthony Albanese welcomed Biden’s victory, saying: “The United States alliance has been our most important partnership since World War II and your commitment to leadership will see this strengthened in the future.”
Albanese issued a joint statement with Labor Party shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong and shadow Defense Minister Richard Marles, saying the US alliance “remains a cornerstone of Labor policy. “. Albanese later told reporters that Biden was “a friend from Australia.”
Morrison’s repeated references to Biden’s visit to Australia in July 2016 are revealing. On that trip, Biden reiterated in terms of intimidation the determination of US imperialism to maintain its economic and strategic dominance in Asia by all means, including war if necessary.
“Anyone who questions America’s dedication and staying power in Asia Pacific is not paying attention,” he declared in a speech in Sydney, boasting about America’s “unmatched” military strength.
“And we are committed to putting more than 60 percent of our fleet and our most advanced military capabilities in the Pacific by 2020,” added Biden. Referring to Obama, he said: “As the president said, we are all in. We are not going anywhere.”
Biden’s tour, which included New Zealand, was not just a threatening warning to China. It was aimed at enforcing the law on Canberra and other regional allies that Washington would not tolerate any prevarication in backing the United States while Washington’s war preparations in the Indo-Pacific accelerated.
First, Biden delivered a threatening message to then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Before taking office in September 2015, Turnbull had raised concerns about the United States’ conflict with China, reflecting the interests of key sectors of Australia’s business elite over the impact on exports to China, its largest market.
In November 2015, Obama had personally reproached Turnbull for failing to provide Washington with advance notice that a Chinese company was to receive a 99-year lease to operate the commercial port in the strategic northern city of Darwin. from the country.
Although Turnbull heeded the warnings and then sought to appease Trump as well, Washington’s doubts about his reliability helped trigger his impeachment as prime minister in August 2018, to be replaced by Morrison, who was closely linked to Trump, even to the point of the point of unsuccessfully inviting the widely detested president to visit Australia.
Increasingly intense actions by the Morrison government against China include police raids on political figures accused of alleged “foreign interference” on behalf of China, and the introduction of a bill, supported by the Labor Party, that allows it to ban Universities and state and local governments conduct business transactions. or exchange agreements with Chinese institutions.
However, Biden’s intervention in 2016 wasn’t just aimed at Turnbull. It was directed against anyone in the political establishment who showed signs of deviating from unconditional support for Washington. The vice president combined militarism with threats of economic retaliation.
In his Sydney speech, Biden stated: “If I had to bet on which country is going to lead economically in the 21st century… I would bet on America. But I would put it another way: it is never a good bet to bet against the United States. “
In reality, while the United States remains Australia’s largest source of foreign investment, it is in historic decline as the dominant world power and has turned to military might repeatedly over the past 30 years in desperate efforts to shore up its position. Biden’s speech made clear that US imperialism was redoubling its efforts to maintain its hegemony by trying to subjugate China, even if it meant a catastrophic war.
Four years later, the United States’ demands for a front-line Australian role in the aggression against China have only intensified during the Trump administration, and will intensify even further under Biden.
On November 3, on the morning of the presidential election, the US Ambassador to Canberra, Arthur Culvahouse, said so. Whatever the election outcome, he told reporters, there was a “bipartisan” agreement in the United States on the challenge presented by China. “I see that it will continue regardless of the outcome,” he said.
While acknowledging the lack of support for the American alliance among younger Australians, Culvahouse insisted that it “will remain strong, vibrant and forward-thinking,” adding: “The alliance never sleeps.”
Culvahouse, appointed by Trump, is a highly connected member of the political intelligence establishment, with a long history of involvement in the acute political crises of successive administrations.
In their eulogy for Biden, both Morrison and Albanese spoke hypocritically in terms that the two countries have common values, such as “democracy,” “respect for human rights and equality,” and a search for “peace and stability.” Could not be farther from the truth.
Since World War II, Australian governments have backed all US military and undemocratic interventions to maintain Washington’s dominance in Asia-Pacific, including the Korean and Vietnam wars and the CIA-backed coup of 1965- 66 in Indonesia, all at the cost of millions of lives.
Today, on both sides of the Pacific, there is a widening gap between the wealthy elites and the majority of the population, a growing advance towards authoritarian rule, and a growing economic and military confrontation with China that could trigger another world war, this time freed. with nuclear weapons.
