The " Nuclear " Option !

The  Trump Presidency gave us reason to have doubts about our security alliance with the United States. We have long been sheltering under the American nuclear umbrella and that has been the reason we have not developed nuclear weapons to bolster our own defence.

Hopefully, the Biden term in the oval office may restore confidence that America will again lead the free world, but  Australia has  widened our defence alliances with a military pact with Japan.  In particular, the combination of the Australian and the Japanese navies will strengthen the vulnerable trade routes through the Pacific Ocean.

The flash point here is the South China sea.  China has virtually annexed this international waterway by dredging to extend small islands into extensive military bases which are now equipped with airfields and defence garrisons.  China's claim has been rejected by the United Nations, but it continues to challenge ships passing through what it now terms its home waters.

China is fast building a navy to challenge the might of the US Navy and is using its trade strength to form alliances with small Pacific countries to gain base facilities for its warships.  It has deployed its own fishing fleet to harass competitors out of the South China sea but merchant shipping is using these waters unchallenged.

Our military pact with Japan makes a lot of sense.  Our former enemy is now a democracy with formidable defence forces of its own. If China continues to show expanding tendencies in the Pacific ocean the best form of containment will be naval strength to keep the supply routes open, and that is beyond the capability of a single countries navy.

The missing component in this defence strategy is obviously nuclear weapons.  Neither Australia or Japan are nuclear armed and any clash in the South China sea would be with China's nuclear defence.  The old nuclear armed nations were concentrated in Europe and the southern hemisphere has remained nuclear free.

It is quite clear that America would deliver a nuclear response if it were attacked, but whether it would instigate a nuclear war in defence of another country is an unanswered question.  That doubt seems to be the main reason that China has threatened, but not made any concrete moves to force the island of Taiwan to merge with the mainland.

When its offshore islands have been shelled by China, the passage of an American naval force through the Taiwan strait has been sufficient to restore order.  It is the nuclear option that has kept the world free of a third world war since the end of the conflict in 1945.

Our military pact with Japan lacks a nuclear option and both countries continue to shelter under the American nuclear umbrella.  If faith in that protection is lost it would seem to be inevitable that either Australia or Japan would eventually seek to restore the nuclear balance.

Our nuclear defence seems to rest with the character of the person who sits in the oval office, and that is something that will change from time to time in America.