logo
Australia Hits Back At Trump's ‘Betrayal', Refuses To Commit Troops In Potential US-China-Taiwan War – Is QUAD-AUKUS Falling Apart?

Australia Hits Back At Trump's ‘Betrayal', Refuses To Commit Troops In Potential US-China-Taiwan War – Is QUAD-AUKUS Falling Apart?

India.com18-07-2025
New Delhi: Australia has finally spoken. It has told the United States in clear terms that Canberra will not be dragged into a war over Taiwan. Not this time. Not on uncertain promises.
From Melbourne to Beijing, the shift in tone is palpable. As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese walks the diplomatic tightrope in China, his government is making it known that Australia will not send troops if tensions between the United States and China explode into war over Taiwan. No pre-commitments. No blind faith.
Defence Minister Pat Conroy echoed the same. Calm, deliberate and without drama. He refused to make advance promises. Decisions, he said, would be made by Australia's elected government, not dictated by demands from Washington.
Behind the scenes, frustration brews. The AUKUS pact, trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States intended to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable, once hailed as a defence revolution, now stumbles. The nuclear submarines promised by the United States have not arrived. Deadlines have shifted. Commitments have blurred. Trust has thinned.
This, many in Canberra believe, is not only about Taiwan but being treated as an equal partner and not a subordinate. It is about remembering history as well.
Australia and the United States are both part of the Quad, a security alliance meant to counter China's rise. But now, Australia's faith in the alliance is being tested.
In Beijing, PM Albanese stays cautious. He talks of peace. He speaks of stability in the region. He avoids the war talk that Washington seems eager to entertain. And he will not offer reassurances on troop deployment.
Reports say the US Department of Defense has asked Australia and Japan for written guarantees. They want allies to commit to sending forces if a conflict erupts in the Indo-Pacific. One name keeps coming up is Elbridge Colby. A senior voice in Washington, overseeing the AUKUS plan, now seen as pushing too hard and too fast.
But this is not the Australia of 20 years ago.
Canberra today is caught in a different storm. On one side is Trump's America that is unpredictable, transactional and slapping tariffs even on allies. On the other is China, Australia's largest trading partner, economically vital and militarily dominant.
Financial Times revealed that Japan too is under similar pressure. Washington is asking for promises. But leaders in Asia are hesitating. No one wants to sign up for someone else's war.
Back home, Australian officials say Albanese's six-day China visit is about protecting national interest, both security and trade. It is a recalibration and a moment of realism.
With Quad's future hanging in the balance, analysts whisper what officials will not say aloud – the alliance is wobbling. And if the pressure continues, it may not survive.
Australia's response is less about defiance and more about dignity and less about choosing sides and more about choosing sovereignty.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

A road map for the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative
A road map for the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative

Hindustan Times

time3 hours ago

  • Hindustan Times

A road map for the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative

At the Quad foreign ministers' meeting in Washington earlier this month, Australia, India, Japan and the US announced a Quad Critical Minerals Initiative (QCMI) — a signal of shared intent, but one still in search of substance. China has asserted its dominance in critical minerals — first through export controls on gallium and germanium, and more recently by curbing rare earth shipments. The US responded with executive orders to secure supply chains. Allies are moving to re-shore and diversify. The logic is clear: From electric vehicles (EVs) to jet engines and semiconductors, critical minerals will shape both economic competitiveness and strategic autonomy in the 21st century. Despite growing convergence, Quad members differ on which minerals are 'critical' to them. India lists 30 minerals, such as copper, cadmium and potash for agriculture and energy needs. The US list of 50 minerals emphasises aluminium, barite and graphite for the defence and tech industries. Australia focuses on 31 minerals, including lithium, rare earth elements (REEs) and zirconium. Japan's list of 35 minerals emphasises gallium, dysprosium and yttrium. Quad has 20 minerals in common — including cobalt, graphite, lithium and REEs — low-hanging fruit for alignment. Yet, 36 minerals are unique to just one member, opening opportunities for swaps and co-investment. Quad supply chains remain highly vulnerable, especially graphite, copper, REEs and lithium. For example, China dominates REE refining, accounting for more than 90% of global capacity. The US lacks heavy REE separation. India, despite significant reserves, produces just 1% of global output. Even Australia's only major non-Chinese producer, Lynas, depends on China for refining. Japan, targeted by China's 2010 export ban, still sources more than half of its REEs from China. This is illustrative of the larger vulnerabilities of the Quad supply chain. India is 100% import dependent for its lithium, cobalt and nickel needs. The US lacks refining capacity, while Japan compensates with export-grade refining expertise. Australia holds the upstream edge but relies on external processing. India faces dual challenges: import dependence and limited domestic processing. However, growing demand from EVs and solar energy creates incentives for integration. The government has introduced sweeping reforms, from a National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) to duty exemptions on critical minerals and scrap metal imports. With the right partnerships, India can emerge as a hub for minerals processing and manufacturing. India's critical minerals sector, especially downstream, is not yet globally competitive. But a nascent market is not a novel challenge. India built its IT services hub through telecoms investments, tax incentives and talent development. Japan spurred semiconductor growth via co-ordination and export credit, while Australia built lithium dominance through exploration incentives and export infrastructure. Even China, the global EV leader, invested ₹12 trillion ($230 billion) to build its ecosystem in battery R&D and manufacturing. Critical minerals policy is fragmented across nations and industries. Without a co-ordinating forum, exploration, ESG standards and procurements remain unaligned. The QMCI could serve as a government-industry platform to align policies, share analysis, harmonise standards and co-ordinate projects. Pooling expertise and negotiating power can dismantle barriers to diversified supply chains as shown by the US-led Minerals Security Partnership and G7 Sustainable Critical Minerals Alliance. The QMCI should go beyond convening towards joint stockpiling, financing and standards harmonisation efforts to improve offtake. Access to patient capital is a major hurdle for critical minerals projects, which require high investments and long timelines. BloombergNEF estimates ₹179 trillion ($2.1 trillion) will be needed by 2050 to meet global demand for transition metals — about ₹5.9 trillion ($70 billion) annually. A supply-demand mismatch will threaten net-zero targets and clean energy scalability. To address this, the QMCI should establish a joint Critical Minerals Investment Platform to pool concessional finance, like the US-Qatar-backed TechMet sovereign fund, worth ₹24.3 billion ($285 million), or Australia's ₹222 billion ($2.6 billion) Critical Minerals Facility. These efforts underscore how strategically deploying public capital through joint vehicles can derisk frontier mineral ecosystems. Technological fragmentation and R&D underinvestment are slowing minerals sector growth. Of the ₹4.2 trillion ($49.7 billion) invested in global public R&D in 2023, only a small fraction went to critical minerals. Mining talent pipelines also lag demand. While the US and Australia face shortages, India's 110 mining engineering colleges produce an exponentially higher number of graduates annually, suggesting strong complementarity. Without co-ordinated R&D and talent investment, the Quad risks missing productivity gains needed for value-added mineral activities. In the coming decade, countries setting standards, financing infrastructure and training workforces for critical minerals will shape the next industrial era. The Quad can lead this transformation — or be compelled to follow others, at its cost. Kaira Rakheja is energy analyst, IEEFA South Asia, and Akshat Singh is an independent policy consultant and previously was an associate fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The views expressed are personal

Trump pauses export controls to bolster China trade deal: Report
Trump pauses export controls to bolster China trade deal: Report

Time of India

time4 hours ago

  • Time of India

Trump pauses export controls to bolster China trade deal: Report

The United States has temporarily eased restrictions on technology exports to China. This decision aims to facilitate ongoing trade negotiations with Beijing. It also supports President Trump's efforts to meet with President Xi Jinping. The Commerce Department has been instructed to avoid taking strict actions against China. Nvidia will resume sales of its H20 GPUs to China. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The U.S. has paused curbs on tech exports to China to avoid disrupting trade talks with Beijing and support President Donald Trump 's efforts to secure a meeting with President Xi Jinping this year, the Financial Times said on industry and security bureau of the Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, has been told in recent months to avoid tough moves on China, the newspaper said, citing current and former could not immediately verify the report. The White House and the department did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment outside business U.S. and Chinese economic officials are set to resume talks in Stockholm on Monday to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world's top two giant Nvidia said this month it would resume sales of its H20 graphics processing units (GPU) to China, reversing an export curb the Trump administration imposed in April to keep advanced AI chips out of Chinese hands over national security planned resumption was part of U.S. negotiations on rare earths and magnets, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has paper said 20 security experts and former officials, including former deputy US national security adviser Matt Pottinger, will write on Monday to Lutnick to voice concern, however."This move represents a strategic misstep that endangers the United States' economic and military edge in artificial intelligence," they write in the letter, it added.

Euro rises after US, EU agree to tariff deal
Euro rises after US, EU agree to tariff deal

Economic Times

time7 hours ago

  • Economic Times

Euro rises after US, EU agree to tariff deal

Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The euro gained on Monday following the announcement of a framework trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, the latest in a flurry of deals to avert a global trade war Meeting in Scotland on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal, which will result in a 15% tariff on EU goods, half what Trump had threatened to impose from August U.S. and Chinese negotiators are due to meet in Stockholm on Monday with an aim to extend a trade truce and prevent steep tariff hikes. Meanwhile, investor attention is shifting towards corporate earnings and central bank meetings in the U.S. and Japan."It could be a positive week, just purely from the fact that now we know the rules of the game, if you like," said Rodrigo Catril, senior currency strategist at National Australia Bank."Now that there is more clarity, you would think that not only in the U.S., but around the globe, there will be a little bit more willingness to look at investment, to look at expansions, and to look at where the opportunities are," he said on a NAB euro stood at $1.1763, up 0.2% so far in Asia. The common currency rose 0.2% to 173.78 said the EU plans to invest some $600 billion in the U.S. and dramatically increase its purchases of American energy and military equipment. The pact is similar to one forged with Tokyo negotiators last week that will see Japan investing some $550 billion in the U.S. and a 15% tariff imposed on its cars and other baseline 15% tariff will still be seen by many in Europe as too high, compared with Europe's initial hopes to secure a zero-for-zero tariff is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable trade pact with the U.S. No breakthrough is expected in the U.S. and China talks in Stockholm, but analysts said another 90-day extension of a trade truce struck in mid-May was U.S. dollar advanced on Friday, bolstered by solid economic data that suggested the Federal Reserve could take its time in resuming interest rate cuts. Both the Fed and the Bank of Japan are expected to hold rates steady at this week's policy meetings, but traders are focusing on the subsequent comments to gauge the timing of the next dollar was little changed at 147.68 yen. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against major peers, fell 0.1% to traded at $1.34385, down almost 0.1%. The Australian dollar fetched $0.6576, up 0.2%, while New Zealand's kiwi dollar was flat at $0.6019.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store