The Australian government yesterday launched the Space Command, a new defense agency with echoes of the US’ Space Force that has been tasked with securing the country’s place in an “already contested” cosmos.
Australian Minister for Defence Peter Dutton said the new defense arm would be modest to start with, although he gave no detailed staffing or budget figures.
In a speech to the Australian Air Force, he said that space “will undoubtedly become a domain that takes on greater military significance in this century.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Space is becoming more congested and is already contested, particularly as the boundaries between competition and conflict become increasingly blurred through gray-zone activities,” he said.
Dutton positioned the Space Command as a clear counter to China and Russia’s extraterrestrial military ambitions, condemning the two nations in his speech, along with all “countries that see space as a territory for their taking, rather than one to be shared.”
The Space Command is to be led by Australian Air Vice Marshal Cath Roberts — “a self-professed science fiction buff” — who will oversee a team drawn from across the Australian military, as well as private contractors.
Dutton said that the agency would “initially be modest,” but added that Australia would need “a Space Force in the future” — a nod to the US service that was launched by then-US president Donald Trump in 2019.
The Space Command makes for close collaboration between the US and Australia in yet another domain, coming just months after the two countries signed a new military partnership, AUKUS, along with the UK.
The Australian government has been squarely focused on the military as an election looms, committing earlier this month to increase the country’s defense force to 80,000 troops by 2040.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole