The ANZUS Treaty is America’s instrument of political, diplomatic, and military coercion. And it is a clear and present danger to the strategic security of Russia and friends of the Russian people.
Introduction
To maintain its military hegemony in Europe, the US established NATO in April 1949, and to maintain its forward military presence in the Pacific, the US dragged New Zealand and Australia into a military alliance called the ANZUS Treaty in September 1951. The ANZUS stands for Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty. The ANZUS is a collective security agreement among these three countries.
Soon after this, the US embroiled the Middle East and South-East Asia in two absolutely unnecessary security alliances known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) and the South-East Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO).
Australia-New Zealand: Brief Military History
The Australia and New Zealand have a long history of being the imperial instruments and serving the interests of the imperial powers by exploiting the non-belligerent nations. The Australia-New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) fought the Central Powers during the First World War and suppressed the freedom fighters in Indo-China. They also took part in massacring innocent Vietnamese people during the US occupation of Vietnam. However, throughout history, the ANZAC and its military wings were badly defeated despite overwhelming military power. The ANZAC was badly beaten by the Turkish (Ottoman) forces at the Battle of Gallipoli during the First World War. Later, the freedom fighters in Vietnam fought bravely against the atrocities of Australian as well as New Zealander soldiers and forced them to retreat.
Australia: Defence Budget, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, and AUKUS
Currently, Australia is spending almost 35 billion USD in terms of military spending and for modernizing its armed forces. It can be interpreted that Australia is spending around 2 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Even then, the exploitative US is demanding from Australia to increase its defence spending to 3.5 percent of its GDP and recently the US Defence Secretary Peter Hegseth asked the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to do the needful “as soon as possible.”
It is to be remembered here that Australia has been an active member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad, since 2007. The Quad has four members, i.e., the US, Japan, India, and Australia. The Australians are actively collaborating with other Quad members especially India, to enhance its military capabilities. Since the year 2006, Australia and India have mutually signed and established consensus on more than 7 defence related and strategic arrangements. These agreements include the Memorandum on Defence Cooperation signed in 2006, the Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation signed in 2009, the Bilateral Framework for Security Cooperation established in 2014, the Secretaries 2+2 Dialogue upgraded to Ministerial Level in 2020, the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) in 2020, and the Defence Science and Technology Implementing Arrangement in 2020. Moreover, Australia and India have been continuously taking part in the Malabar Naval Exercise since 2007, and they hold joint exercises together from time to time to enhance interoperability.
In September 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States signed the AUKUS trilateral security arrangement that was referred to as “a new security partnership that will promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable” in the Joint Leaders Statement. The AUKUS was aimed to provide Australia with “conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs).”
It is to be remembered here that New Zealand partly withdrew from the ANZUS Treaty in 1986, since its foreign policy is based on a nuclear-free world and it prohibited the entry of US nuclear powered warships to enter its waters. However, on the other hand, Australia wants to have nuclear-powered submarines, which is quite contrary to its strategic needs.
Conclusions
The US President Dwight Eisenhower said in 1954 that “We have got to keep the Pacific as an American lake.” This policy statement came after the signing of the ANZUS Treaty in September 1951. It reveals that the US is fully committed to going to any length to project military power in the Pacific Ocean. In this process, the Allied Powers are creating dangers for Russia and friends of the Russian people.
It is a reality that Russia has no intention of aggression against Australia and has never tried to project military power in the Pacific Ocean. However, Russia reserves the right to sail in the international waters under the provisions of the international law.
The Australian policy makers must open their eyes that they are spending in excess of 35 billion USD on defence by compromising the living standards of millions of Australian taxpayers. And, for no reason, the US is demanding more defence spending. It is a reality that Australia has little or no threats to its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and it has not been invaded by any military force in decades. However, the US is successfully dragging Australia into a pseudo war and an endless arms race that benefit no one, but the US war machine.
Simon Westwood – is a Masters student at the Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland. He is also a Research Assistant at the DCU’s Department of History
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