Harmonious OCEAN: Chinese Aircraft Carriers and Australia's U.S. Alliance

摘要

Pronouncements by senior Chinese officials in 2009 have made China's acquisition of aircraft carriers inevitable. Carrier groups will represent a significant increase in Chinese naval capability and will shift the regional status quo. Chinese carriers will present Australia a particular dilemma if they create additional tensions with U.S. forces in the Pacific. Australia's national security policy has long been underpinned by its alliance with the U.S. but in recent years China has become Australia's primary trading partner. Australia, therefore, risks being caught between the competing imperatives of security and trade if the U.S. and China are drawn into conflict. This paper considers the implications of a Chinese carrier capability in the Pacific Ocean and the impact to the Australia-U.S. security alliance. Australia should consider not only the military significance of Chinese carriers but their bearing upon perceptions of relative U.S./China pre-eminence, before China's carriers arrive in the Pacific Ocean.