Aussies Begin to Question US Alliance

It was all smiles and bonhomie at the US-Australia defense meetings in San Francisco this month. But Down Under, there are growing calls for Australia to scale back its reliance on America in favor of – you guessed it – China.

“Australia can no longer assume that we can continue to exist in a world where we can rely on our great and powerful friend the United States to ensure our strategic future, and at the same time continue to have a very strong and growing economic relationship with China,” says Danielle Chubb, an Australian defense specialists and Vasey Fellow at the Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu.

“As China grows – which is something Australia wants -- it is going to demand greater influence in the region.”

China is now Australia's largest trading partner, with exports tripling since 2005 to almost $60 billion a year. While much of the world has slipped into recession twice in the past decade, Australia has avoided a downturn, thanks mostly to the mountains of coal and iron ore heading to China.

By comparison, the United States has been busy with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has seen its enormous military advantage over China begin to slip.

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