Australia should reconsider alliance with ‘fiercely unpredictable’ US, former foreign ministers say | Australian foreign policy
The Albanian government must urgently reconsider Australia’s alliance with the United States, two former Labor foreign ministers have said, as Donald Trump renews pressure for military intervention in Venezuela and to claim Greenland.
Speaking to Guardian Australia in the days after the US captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr said Trump’s America had become an “absolutely unpredictable” ally and that this presented a “tremendous challenge” for Australia.
Another former Labor foreign secretary, Gareth Evans, said he was concerned the US had “zero respect” for international law or the interests of its allies. Evans said the Aukus agreement should be reconsidered.
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“This is a wake-up call that can no longer be ignored by the Australian government. It is now time for the Aukus submarine project to be abandoned and for our defense capability to be built in our own interests rather than those of the now completely unreliable United States,” Evans said.
Donald Trump threatened to seize Greenland after launching airstrikes and raids in Venezuela that led to Maduro’s capture earlier this month, saying the US would take action on Greenland “whether we like it or not.”
Australia has not criticized the Trump administration’s actions or rhetoric towards Venezuela or Greenland. Following the US operation to capture Maduro and the move to seize Venezuelan oil, Albanese stated that his government was “monitoring developments” and called for adherence to international law and the “peaceful, democratic transition” of political power.
Carr, who was foreign secretary from 2012 to 2013, said the government would be wise to “keep our heads down and watch closely,” adding that it was unclear what Trump’s “outburst of unilateralism” meant for the world.
“Our US ally is wildly unpredictable and ruthlessly devoted to American national interests, without pretense of allegiance to universal values or a global, rules-based order,” he said.
“This is a tremendous challenge for Australia and the national security establishment… the server is out of touch with what this means, not just for Aukus, but for the alliance.”
“This is a completely different America than the America that created our rhetoric about shared values, rules-based order, and looking at the world through that lens.”
Using his latest posts on social media, Carr claimed that “our alliance may have gotten in the way with the crazy politics of the USA” and said “farewell to US-led alliance structures”.
Evans, who was secretary of state from 1988 to 1996, claimed Trump’s recent actions “demonstrate beyond doubt that America has zero respect for international law, morality and the interests of its allies and partners.”
“The crazy irony of the whole project [Aukus] “He has always committed Australia to spending eye-watering amounts of money building up a capability that will protect us against military threats that will actually arise simply because we have that capability, and he uses that to support the United States in certain conflicts that are against our interests, without any guarantee of support in return if we need it,” he said.
Both Carr and Evans have long been critical of the Aukus agreement, but Evans said recent developments warranted an urgent rethink about the military agreement.
Trump approved the military agreement between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom during a meeting with Albanese in Washington in October. Aukus came under scrutiny from the Pentagon after the Trump administration was sworn in. Australia has pledged more than $4.5 billion to increase US shipbuilding capacity.
In January, the US government withdrew separately from 66 international organizations and agreements, including the UN commissions on peacekeeping and international law.
