Far from reconsidering its commitment to the US relationship, the Gillard government is tightening the embrace.
After Bruce Stokes had finished giving testimony before two US congressional committees in Washington last week, a peculiar remark about Australia stayed on his mind.
The Congress had called Stokes, an American trade expert, to tell them about the risks of the US being dragged under by a drowning euro zone. So it struck him as oddly off-topic when one member of Congress remarked to him privately that "the US doesn't want another Germany in Australia".
What did he mean by that? "A country that's a defence ally of ours but has become dependent on China for its trade," says Stokes, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Washington.
"He was critical of Germany because it's become so heavily dependent on China for its exports that it's hard to get them to co-operate on anything with the US any more."
This is a foretaste of the jealous rivalry that will come with the contest for power between the reigning superpower and the potential one. Is Australia about to be torn between the two?
China's economy at about $US6 trillion last year is still not even half the size of America's at $14.5 trillion. But already the gravitational pull of the lucrative opportunities of the Middle Kingdom is being seen as a test of nations' loyalties.
And on the face of it, you can see why the congressman, whom Stokes prefers not to name, might be concerned. Australia exported goods worth $9 billion to the US latest financial year, and $65 billion worth to China, a ratio of seven to one.
And look at the trend line. Australia's sales to the US fell 5 per cent in the year while sales to China rose by a startling 39 per cent.
But the US legislator can relax. The logic of the dollars may seem compelling but it has had zero discernible effect on Australia's strategic policy.
Far from reconsidering its uniquely deep commitment to the US - Australia is the only nation that has fought alongside the Americans in every major war of the past century - the Gillard government is tightening the embrace.
Comments