NSW: Australians expected to die alongside US soldiers in region

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2001
NSW: Australians expected to die alongside US soldiers in region

By Alice Atkins

SYDNEY, Aug 17 AAP - The United States would expect Australians to fight and die alongside
Americans in a war against China over Taiwan, a senior Bush administration official said
today.

US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said it was part of Australia's obligation
under the alliance between the two countries, which the US took very seriously.

He also suggested the US would review the alliance if Australia failed to join a regional
fight in which the US was involved.

"I am not sure all of our friends here in Australia understand the significance of
alliance to Americans," he told reporters.

"It is not a matter of political convenience or of economic interaction... for us an
alliance is an obligation, if necessary, to fight and die for each other.

"We are talking on the US side (of) our sons and daughters fighting and dying if Australia
comes under attack and, by the way, we are talking about Australian sons and daughter
who would be willing to sacrifice their lives to help defend the United States.

"That is what an alliance means and when you think about it in those terms ... you
realise this is a very special and indeed potent confidence building measure."

When asked about US-China tensions over Taiwan, Mr Armitage said any military action
by US to defend the island was likely to also be in Australia's interest.

"I think the overwhelming view in the United States is, it is hard to imagine a military
action of any sort here by the United States which wouldn't in large measure also be in
Australia's interest," he told reporters.

"If that is the case then ... I can't imagine one of the great events of our time taking
place without Australian participation at some level.

"If the Australian government made a decision, in the terrible event the United States
was involved in a conflict, that it was not in their interest to participate in some level
then we would have to take a look at where we are after the dust has settled."

However, Mr Armitage stressed that both the US and Australia had helped broker peaceful
resolutions between Taiwan and China in the past when tensions had reached breaking point.

Australian and US ministers held their regular AUSMIN talks in Canberra last month
and reaffirmed importance of the ANZUS alliance which is in its 50th year.

But China was angered by a US proposal for an informal regional grouping involving
its treaty partners in the region including Australia and Japan. Chinese newspapers warned
Australia against dancing to America's tune.

Mr Armitage said today that the United States was still interested in pursuing trilateral
agreements with Australia and Japan while at the same time shoring up its own alliance
with Japan.

"What we are really interested in is a Japan that is able to cooperate more fully with
the United States in our alliance," he said.

"It is inescapably a fact that our access to Japanese [military] bases is what allows
the United States to effect security cooperation throughout all this region and all the
way up to Kuwait and the Persian Gulf."

AAP aa/jjs/jc

KEYWORD: ARMITAGE ALLIANCE

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