Who Is Australia 's Most Important Ally Today? Essay

In this essay I will be talking about the impact of the fall of Singapore on Australia’s immediate security, and also be giving a brief background of important events during that time.

The ANZUS treaty provided Australia with a “protector” especially from communism as it states in article 4 of the ANZUS treaty, “Each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific Area on any of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes.” This clearly states that if Australia or New Zealand, being in the Pacific were attacked the United States would come to their aid.

Since the signing of the 1951 peace treaty between Australia and Japan, the two countries have rapidly built a productive relationship. Many factors and events have contributed to the development of this partnership. The ANZUS treaty was the turning point in the Austral-Japanese relationship. It assured Australia protection against Japan and provided security in the Asia-Pacific region. Trade and cultural exchange also played a significant role in shaping Australia's relationship with Japan. Growth of trade was a contributor to the sense of a mutual interest between the two countries. The cultural exchange often helped to recognise and accept the differences between Australia and Japan.

The US-Australian alliance requires some explanation. At its basis, it pertains to the ANZUS treaty signed between Australia, New Zealand, and the

It is important to remember that for most of the period before full-scale war erupted in Vietnam, it was Australia who was pushing America into further involvement in the region. SEATO was eventually used by the Americans to justify their presence in Vietnam, but it was the Australians who actually tried to invoke SEATO first. In 1962 when they wanted to stop Indonesian aggression in western New Guinea, they asked America to become involved, but the US had diplomatic commitments with Indonesia as well as Australia and said no. This does not mean that the American alliances were not an important factor in Australia going to war. Australia had made itself essentially dependent on American help in the event of external aggression and that dependence had a price tag of involvement in American foreign policy. The plain and simple fact was that if Australia did not help America now, then America might not come to Australia in her hour of need, if it ever arose. So yes, Australia's relationship with America was an important factor in Australian

This later had important implications for the military's force structure in the 1980s and 1990s. The experience in Vietnam also caused an intolerance for casualties which resulted in succeeding Australian governments becoming more cautious towards the deployment of military forces overseas. Regardless, the "imperative to deploy forces overseas" remained a feature of Australian strategic behaviour in the post-Vietnam era, while the US alliance has continued to be a fundamental aspect of its foreign policy into the early 21st

The Cold War era (1945-1989) was conflicted with the dominance of, overall, the two superpowers, the U.S.S.R and the U.S, with political and social ideology taking centre stage. Australia's involvement during this time, was paramount and reinstated its long term allegiance with the United States when entering South Vietnam. After WWII had finished, the Soviet Union showed aggression towards the U.S as the competition for world superiority began, and led to the capitalist/democratic nations particularly aligned with the United States fearing the spread of communism. Countries including Australia signed treaties and agreements to stop this regime and the only resolution, in the end, was war.Q

Following America’s entry into the war, almost 1 million American service men passed through Australia, including 100,000 African- Americans (The American army,2015). On the Australian home front, the presence of all the American troops caused a huge boost in rural production as industries rushed to keep up with the increasing need for food supplies. In March 1942 the American president with agreement of Australian president John Curtin ordered General Douglas McArthur to form a defence plan with Australia for the Pacific. McArthur was in charge of all and became the Supreme Commander, South West Pacific (American Army, 2014). McArthur moved his headquarters to Melbourne and began massing the American and Australian force together. The forming of ANZUS, The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty, in 1951 also greatly impacted on Australia as nation. It suited Australia to have the treaty with the United States as they were a large power within the world. As a result of the treaty Australia supported America in many conflicts following WW2 including the Korean War 1950-1953, Vietnam War 1962-1975 and Desert Storm 1990-1991. The presence of the American soldiers in Australia had significant impacts in shaping Australia as a nation through the forming of the

World War 2 undoubtedly shook Australia’s ties with international powers. From hostile to hospitable; Australia and Japan forged a strong relationship after being at war with each other. Australia’s previously loyal allegiance to the British Empire was uneasy during the Second World War, but the two countries are still strongly allied. The United States had repeatedly come to Australia’s aid during World War 2 and because of this, a strong allegiance was formed between Australia and the United States.

The ANZUS treaty (Australian, New Zealand United States) was an agreement signed by all three treaties in 1951 to protect the pacific if another attacks like the Japanese were to occur. This treaty was very important for Australia's defence, as in WW2 the Japanese almost invaded Australia but the United States saved Australia from being invaded. Australia was willing to send troops to support America because Australian politicians believed if they helped now the US would help if Australia were ever to be attacked as this idea is shown in Allan Renouf’s letter; “To achieve such a habitual closeness of relations with the United states and sense of mutual alliance that in our time and need, after we have shown all reasonable restraint and good sense, the United States would have little option but to respond as we would want.” In 1954 the SEATO treaty was signed to block further communism in SEA. This treaty was used by the United States to keep fighting and to gain further support from other Southeast Asian countries and Australia as SEATO was like a Tiger without teeth this shown in this quote by Diplomat Sir James Cable; "a fig leaf for the nakedness of American

These alliances included Australia’s close relationship with the US and the SEATO treaty in which Australia signed in 1965 with countries in the South East Asian region that haven’t fallen under the influence of communism, which includes; New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan, as well as USA, Britain and France. This treaty was formed so that each member would come to the member’s aid if they were ever attacked by communist troops. Therefore, Menzies sent troops to fight in Vietnam due to our close relationship with the United States and helping them whenever there needed help, as well as, fighting against the communist in countries that were being

Providing aid to developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region allows the countries to develop politically and economically, helping the region prosper, and therefore improve Australia’s personal security. The aid provided by Australia helps developing countries to stabilise their situation

During the past 25 years, Australian Foreign Policy has consisted of a balance between economic and security priorities. No government can afford to focus on one to the detriment of the other. During the Hawke and Keating era (1983-1996), economic factors were of significant importance as we were in a region that was growing rapidly, faster than any other region in the world. Although having said this, it can be argued that there were exceptions whereby security initiatives were of equal concern to the government. In the current day (Howard era), it is possible to view that there is a higher emphasis on security initiatives than ever

Australia should certainly continue to build and form their existing relationship with Italy, as both countries have different qualities that can help enhance the other’s business ethics - both economically and culturally. This can make business in Italy and Australia more attractive to other international markets, and help build a network of international businesses and overall economic future.

This article indicates Britain couldn’t provide assistance for Australia which was under threat by the Japanese despite Australia supplying its available resources to Britain which was in a desperate struggle to win against Nazi Germany (Mason, 2014 pg. 200). This was a significant issue for Australia as they saw Britain as their protector within Asia and counted on their strong military force which was weak in the Pacific due to the fall of Singapore as they were no longer able to use Singapore as a place for communication and supplies. This cartoon from the Daily Telegraph created towards the end of the fall of Singapore, corroborates with the newspaper quote above: