The US is planning to build additional military infrastructure in Australia once the US Congress gives approval to the US Navy for US$211.5 million, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne said yesterday.
The plans for a bigger US footprint in Australia comes at a time when the two nations have become increasingly concerned by China’s efforts to expand its influence in the Pacific region.
“The development of facilities will support the Force Posture Initiatives,” Payne told Sky News, referring to agreements reached in 2011 between the US and Australia to enhance their defense relationship.
Those initiatives entail 2,500 US Marines training in Australia each year and regular joint training between the nations’ air forces.
Payne did not say what military infrastructure the US aims to build, but Australian media earlier this month reported that Washington had plans for a new port facility near Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory.
US marines are deployed in an annual rotation for training in the territory, and are housed at an Australian military base in Darwin.
“A port is the missing leg of the stool in US military engagement with Australia,” said Euan Graham, director of the national security program at La Trobe University.
A US embassy spokesman in Canberra declined to comment.
The Australian Department of Defence said it would expect concrete plans only when the proposal is approved by the US Congress.
If the US does build a port facility in Darwin it would be located near the Port of Darwin, over which China’s Landbridge Group Co (嵐橋集團) secured a 99-year lease in 2015.
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