Australia joins U.S.-led missile defense system
Australia joins U.S.-led missile defense system
Belinda Goldsmith, Reuters, Canberra
Australia has joined a controversial U.S.-led "Son of Star Wars"
defense program designed to shoot down ballistic missiles,
strengthening military ties with its key ally despite a risk of
Asian displeasure.
Announcing the decision on Thursday, foreign minister
Alexander Downer said the shield system would deter rogue states
from acquiring missile technology, but he gave no details of
possible costs or how Australia would participate.
"This is a strategic decision to put in place a long-term
measure to counter potential threats to Australia's security and
its interests from ballistic missile proliferation," Downer told
parliament, adding Britain and Japan supported the program.
While he did not mention North Korea by name, the communist
state has a nuclear weapons program and ballistic missiles
capable of hitting U.S.-ally Japan. North Korea is also a major
exporter of missiles and technology.
Australia's left-leaning Democrats and Greens parties strongly
objected to Australia's involvement in a project with unproven
technology, saying it could trigger an arms race.
"It is a mistake to spend billions of dollars developing
technology that may never work and will just encourage others to
create new weapons," said Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett.
The Bush administration has earmarked US$50 billion over five
years to build a missile defense with an initial, rudimentary,
capability to shoot down incoming warheads by next September.
The multi-layered system is still under development and could
include interceptor rockets to smash into a missile soon after
takeoff, high-powered lasers and ship-based antimissile rockets.
Critics say it would be years, if not decades, before a
reliable shield could be built and cost the United States
hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming decades.
A Japanese newspaper said on Thursday Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi planned to introduce a missile defense system to protect
Japan from North Korea, which fired a ballistic missile over
Japan in 1998. Koizumi denied any decision had been made but said
the issue must be tackled soon.
Some defense experts view Australia as an essential component
in the missile defense system. Australia already hosts small but
important U.S. security operations, notably the remote Pine Gap
base that receives information collected by eavesdropping
satellites.
But Canberra's move to join the system -- as well as the U.S.
Joint Strike Fighter project to build an advanced fighter-bomber
-- could irk Asian neighbors who already accuse Canberra of
playing "deputy sheriff" for Washington in the region.
Downer said it would strengthen military ties with the United
States that his conservative government has bolstered since
coming to power in 1996.
Analysts said joining the program added "another layer of
intimacy" to the U.S./Australia relationship that would not go
down well in the region.
"It is dangerous in as much as it seems that when the United
States acts, Australia follows by reflex," said foreign policy
expert Michael McKinley from the Australian National University.
"It creates a sense that Australia is only reluctantly a part
of the region in social and economic terms."
Downer, aware of regional sensitivities, said the government
had already briefed some Asian nations of its involvement and
would keep its regional partners informed of its participation.
Defense minister Robert Hill said that under the program,
Australia could include expanded cooperation to detect missiles
at launch, acquiring ship or ground-based sensors, and research,
but ruled out a ground-based missile defense system.
The U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Tom Schieffer, said the
program could have commercial benefits by allowing Australian
industry to participate in the development stages.
The original "Star Wars" initiative pioneered by former U.S.
President Ronald Reagan never got off the ground and was seen as
too costly and too ambitious.