Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton last Friday promised that Australia would join the United States in militarily defending Taiwan, should China move against any separatist attempt. “[China has] been very clear about their intent to go into Taiwan and we need to make sure that there is a high level of preparedness, a greater sense of deterrence by our capability…. It would be inconceivable that we wouldn’t support the US in an action if the US chose to take that action,” Dutton told The Australian.
That was followed by Sunday night’s wild 60 Minutes Australia show, titled “Prepare for Armageddon: China’s warning to the world,” quite the “fear mongering war propaganda piece,” as anti-war activist Caitlin Johnson wrote. The 20-minute segment features the ravings of retired Australian Major Gen. Jim “The Butcher of Fallujah” Molan, arguing that Australia needs to prepare for war with China. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt3vns42Nd8]
“Australia is monstrously vulnerable,” Molan exclaimed. War might break out “any time from now on…. The next war is not going to be ten or twenty years away, it’s going to be in the next three to ten years.… My estimate is that in a serious fight the Australian Defense Force only has enough missiles for days. This is not going to be resolved in days. And of course we’re not big enough. We should expand the defense force significantly…. We should fund defense now based on our assessment of the national security strategy which is based on the war that we want to win.”
