New Military Base Strengthens US-Australia Alliance

President Barack Obama speaks with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (L), Australia's Governor-General Quentin Bryce (2nd R), and former Chief of Defense Force General Peter Cosgrove (R) while touring the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Nov. 17. President Obama is in Australia to mark the 60th anniversary of their security alliance and to bolster Washington's presence in the strategically important region. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

The United States and Australia have agreed to a permanent U.S. military force in Australia’s north as part of a strengthening in the Australia, New Zealand, and the United States alliance (ANZUS).

President Barack Obama announced a twofold presence in Australia with the deployment of thousands of U.S. Marines to Darwin in the Northern Territory, as well as more visits by U.S. aircraft, ships, and submarines.

The announcement was made during Obama’s first official trip to Australia—two previously planned trips were canceled due to the financial crisis and the Gulf oil spill—and coincided with the 60th Anniversary of the ANZUS alliance.

The agreement, which will initially involve the deployment of 250 U.S. Marines in the north of Australia next year and build up to a rotation of 2,500 troops by 2017, was welcomed by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

“It will mean that we are postured to better respond together along with other partners in the Asia-Pacific to any regional contingency including the provision of humanitarian assistance and dealing with natural disasters,” she told reporters at a press conference.

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said there needed to be a public debate about the role Australia should play in the region, saying in a statement, “The proposal for Darwin needs to be clearly qualified and quantified by the Gillard government.”

“The Australian Greens’ policy is to ‘end foreign troop deployment, training, and hosting on Australian territory’,” he said.

The agreement has however been welcomed by both major political parties and should sit well with public opinion on security in the region.

According to a poll by Sydney-based think tank the Lowy Institute, Australians increasingly back engagement with the United States, with 82 percent saying the ANZUS alliance is important, and with 83 percent saying they trust the United States, which is an improvement of 20 percent since 2006.

Increasing U.S. engagement in the region is evidence of a change in foreign policy in the United States, with the Obama administration actively engaging in the Asia-Pacific.

His trip to Australia was scheduled en route from the Asia-Pacific trade forum, APEC, to the East Asia Summit (EAS) and meetings with the 10-member Southeast Asian block ASEAN, in Bali, Indonesia, over the weekend.

While the president’s focus has been on trade with economic concerns on the domestic front weighing in, those in the region are focused on security.

The increasing engagement in Australia is one that is being played out through the Asia-Pacific, with countries in the region concerned about the rise of China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said China was not impressed by the upscaling of the ANZUS alliance, telling Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC, “China has its own concepts of friendly cooperation with all countries.”

What they may be like one can only wonder, with China’s alliances involving largely rogue states like North Korea, Burma, and in the Pacific region, the military dictatorship of Fiji.

Its military presence in the South China Sea has also become more pronounced with concerns raised by the Philippines and Vietnam of increasing aggression from China’s forces through the strategic waterways.

President Obama says the United States is not trying to challenge China, saying “a rising peaceful China” is welcomed, Reuters reported.

He warned, however, China must “play by the rules of the road.”