US should focus on economic ties to compete with China in Indo Pacific, says former Australia PM

Straits Times

4 days ago

Australian incumbent Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during the second leaders' debate of the 2022 federal election campaign at the Nine studio in Sydney, Australia May 8, 2022. Alex Ellinghausen/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
SYDNEY - Australia's former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, testifying at a U.S. Congress panel hearing about countering China, has urged the U.S. to "double down" on its economic engagement in the Indo Pacific where Beijing is asserting influence.
Speaking on Wednesday, Morrison said economic security is the main security focus of many countries in Southeast Asia, and U.S. leadership on economic issues and Western investment gives the region choice.
"When China is active in a particular country ... the response to that is not for the U.S. or other allied interests to not be there, the response is to double down and be there even more strongly to provide them with that choice," he said.
Morrison was invited to speak to the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party about his government's experience of China imposing $20 billion in unofficial trade sanctions after Australia called for an inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The sanctions were lifted by Beijing after Morrison lost a national election in 2022, and Anthony Albanese's Labor government sought to stabilise ties with Australia's largest trading partner.
Morrison said the U.S. should work more with its Quad allies including Australia and Japan to build a supply chain for critical minerals and rare earths needed for defence equipment, including the nuclear-powered submarines Australia is buying from the United States under the AUKUS pact.
"The processed rare earths, whether they go into nuclear submarines, F-35s or whatever it happens to be, that is essential for those things to be done," he said.
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Deals similar to that struck this month for the U.S. Department of Defense to back U.S.-based rare earth magnets producer MP Materials "should be extended to allies and partners", he said.
China recently demonstrated its leverage by withholding exports of rare earth magnets, upending global markets, before reversing course.
The Australian public awareness of the potential threat posed by China is "somewhat in jeopardy", Morrison said, pointing to a Lowy Institute poll showing more Australians see China as an economic partner than a security threat. REUTERS