Experts cite need for Beijing-Canberra co-op on security issues

The security relations between China and Australia are "very good" and there are no major issues or differences between the two Asia-Pacific countries, said Hugh White, a former deputy defense secretary and now professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University.

"We both share a strong interest in stability and peace in Asia more broadly, and these positive elements are of course reinforced by the large economic relationship between us," White told Xinhua in a recent interview.

White said that on the announced US pivot to the Asia- Pacific region, the Australian government should avoid making any choices between its relationships with the United States and China, which could proved to be problematic. "In the future, Canberra will continue to offer rhetorical support for the US policy but avoid further concrete actions which might worry China," he said.

In responding to this delicate situation, perhaps the most useful role Australia can play as a country with good relations with both China and America, is to help encourage Beijing and Washington to see how important it is that they reach an accommodation with each other about their respective future roles in Asia, White said.

Professor Pradeep Taneja, a China expert in the University of Melbourne, said that recently, the militaries of both China and Australia have become more involved in dealing with non- traditional challenges. "For example, I already see China and Australian navies working in the Indian Ocean in dealing with pirates. Both Australia and China depend on international trade, but piracy affects free trade. So China and Australian navies could cooperate even more in dealing with piracy," Taneja told Xinhua in a separate interview.

Rory Medcalf, director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute, said Australia has very large trade ties with China and the bilateral political relations are deepening.

Medcalf said that Australia already recognized that China's military can be a partner in providing disaster relief and assistance, citing as example, the search of the missing Malaysian flight MH370 which involved both the navies of China and Australia, along with some other countries.

The experts agree that like all other countries in Asia, China and Australia face a range of complex security challenges including climate changes, natural disasters, terrorism, cyber- security, and pandemic diseases. But all of these challenges can be met by effective regional cooperation as long as the political and strategic order remains stable and cooperative, the experts said.

Taneja also suggested that it would be a good idea to build mutual confidence between the military of both countries so that Australian and Chinese military officers know and understand each other.

He cited as example the current excellent relations between Australia and Indonesia, which historically has been quite tense because Australia is a big country with small population while Indonesia is a country with lots of islands and a very large population.

"In Australia there has always been a fear that a conflict with Indonesia would arise because they have very large population and its military could overrun Australia. So for many years, Australia has adopted a foreign policy of developing confidence-building measures with Indonesia by training Indonesian senior army officers," Taneja said.

Taneja said that the Indonesian officers stayed in Australia for one year or more and mixed with Australian officers, spoke English, got to know each other and the resulting camaraderie reduced tension and misunderstanding. "Beijing and Canberra can also develop such kind of cooperation which could be very useful," Taneja said.