By John Lander, retired Diplomat
I am not a “writer”, although I have written a lot during my thirty-year diplomatic career, much of it in relation to China. None of it published and most of it buried in government archives. All I can bring to the table is my personal interpretation of current developments regarding US and China, in the light of my past experience.
One of your previous speakers, Patrick Lawrence, advocated putting the main point first. So here goes:
The United States is not preparing to go to war against China.
The United States is preparing Australia to go to war against China.
Indicators Of War Preparations
- 2,500 US marines stationed in Darwin practicing for war with the Australian Defence Forces, soon to include the Japanese Defence Forces
- Establishment of a regional HQ for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Darwin
- Lengthening the RAAF aircraft runways in Northern Territory at our expense for servicing US fighters and bombers
- Proposed stationing of 6 nuclear weapons-capable B52 Bombers at RAAF Tindal in NT
- Construction of massive fuel and maintenance facilities in Darwin NT for US aircraft
- Proposed acquisition of eight nuclear-propelled submarines at the cost of $170 billion for hunter-killer operations in the Taiwan Strait
- Construction, at the cost of $10 billion, of a deep water port on Australia’s east coast for US and UK nuclear powered and nuclear missile-carrying submarines
- The long-established satellite communications station known as Pine Gap in central Australia has recently, and is still being, expanded and upgraded. It is key to the command and control of US forces in the Indo-Pacific (and even as far afield as Ukraine)
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