AFR - Angus Grigg
Australia’s
Defence Force chief, Angus Campbell, has used a private speech to warn
that China could take advantage of climate change to occupy abandoned
islands in the Pacific.
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| While not naming China, General Campbell said if smaller islands were abandoned from rising sea levels it could open up the potential for territorial expansion. Alex Ellinghausen |
In
previously unreported remarks General Campbell said the changing
climate could inject new tension into an already contested region,
suggesting the Morrison government is under pressure to show more
leadership on the issue.
"They [Pacific Island nations] are
calling for the rest of the world to take more ambitious and decisive
action," he told an invitation-only forum, according to one person with
knowledge of the event. "They want us to do more."
The speech in
mid-June by the nation’s most senior soldier could leave the government
open to criticism its lukewarm approach to combatting climate change is
becoming a national security issue.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison
has described the Pacific as “our patch” and made it his top foreign
policy priority but he has been cautious about using Australia’s “step
up” in the region for greater cooperation on climate change.This
is despite Pacific leaders talking repeatedly of its importance amid
rising sea levels and increasingly frequent natural disasters.
At
the same time, China has sought to extend its influence into the Pacific
through state-backed loans, greater spending on infrastructure and a
larger naval presence.
While not naming China, General Campbell
said the potential for territorial expansion could be opened up if
smaller islands were abandoned as a result of rising sea levels.
"If
other states see the opportunity to occupy uninhabited spaces then it
could introduce new tension into our region," he said at the forum on
climate change and national security.
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| Chinese dredging vessels building islands in the South China Sea. Reuters |
China has shown itself
willing to use land reclamation in disputed areas of the South China Sea to raise the level of islands previously submerged at high tide.
Relationship-changing issue
Its
island building program, which began in December 2013, has seen Beijing
build seven man-made islands and rapidly militarise them, despite
earlier assurances to the contrary.
"If the predictions are
correct it [climate change] will have serious ramifications for global
security and serious ramifications for the ADF," General Campbell said,
referring to the Australian Defence Force.
"The issue of climate change will influence our long-standing relationship with our Pacific Island neighbours.”
The Defence Department declined to elaborate on the remarks or provide further context.
"The comments were delivered extemporaneously and a transcript is not available," a spokesperson said.
General
Campbell’s speech was delivered to 40 mid-level managers working on
national security issues across the public service and its agencies.
The
forum was organised by the Institute for Regional Security and held at
Bowral’s Gibraltar Hotel, in the NSW Southern Highlands.
In
promoting the closed conference it said climate change was “one of the
many threats the national security community, and indeed the whole of
government, will need to address in coming years”.
In his speech, General Campbell said Defence has been preparing for the impact of climate change “for years”.
He
said Australians were living in the most “natural disaster-prone region
in the world” and a further rise in global temperatures would likely
put more pressure on the Defence Force's ability to respond.
Those
who know the Defence Force chief said he was often provocative in
closed-door sessions in an effort to make people think more broadly and
creatively about issues.
Pacific priority
 |
| New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Australia must listen to the Pacific. AP |
The
Pacific is a foreign policy priority for Mr Morrison, but rather than
focus on climate change his trip last month to the Solomon Islands was
based around economic development, infrastructure, labour mobility and
security challenges.
Former Solomons prime minister Rick
Houenipwela said it was “disappointing” climate change was not raised as
“it’s a very, very important issue for us".
“In my constituency, two large communities that were on two islands five years ago are now no longer,” he said.
New
Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who arrived in the Solomons
shortly after Mr Morrison, said any country that wants to “step up” in
the Pacific needed to take climate concerns seriously.
“If you want to be engaged here, the first thing you’ve got to do is come on a listening mission," he said.
“If
that’s their number one concern, and it seriously is right across the
Pacific, then maybe, just maybe, you should take them seriously.”
After his surprise election victory in May,
Pacific leaders urged Mr Morrison to act on climate change.
The
Prime Minister of Samoa, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, said Australia
had been lagging on the issue and needed to show more leadership.
“Climate change is the single most dangerous challenge facing planet Earth,” he told
The Guardian.
Frank
Bainimarama, the Prime Minister of Fiji, also urged Mr Morrison to act
on climate change, which he called “the most urgent crisis facing not
only the Pacific, but the world”.
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