Latest / The Front / China’s shot over Anthony Albanese’s bows

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China’s shot over Anthony Albanese’s bows · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Monday, June thirty, twenty twenty five. A verdict is
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: looming in the triple murder Mushroom trial, with a jury
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  Speaker 1: to be sequestered to begin considering their decision on Aaron
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  Speaker 1: Patterson's charges over a fatal twenty twenty three beef Wellington lunch.
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  Speaker 1: Patterson is pleading not guilty. Here at the Australian dot
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  Speaker 1: com dot au our subscribers will be the first to
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  Speaker 1: find out the verdict and we'll be able to read
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: all our reporting and analysis.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Watch it.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: That's the unequivocal message from the Chinese Ambassador to Australia,
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  Speaker 1: Shao Ten, who's written an opinion piece for The Australian
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  Speaker 1: Today strongly objecting to the idea that Australia and other
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: American allies should increase defense spending. That's after Donald Trump
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  Speaker 1: emerged from NATO talks with Europe and allies pledging to
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  Speaker 1: dramatically increase their defense spends. Today, why China is warning
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  Speaker 1: Anthony Albanesi and how he will respond. China's man in
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  Speaker 1: Canberra is Shao Chen. A sixty one year old senior diplomat,
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  Speaker 1: one of the Chinese communist parties most trusted.
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  Speaker 3: No country is perfect.
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  Speaker 1: Here is Ambassador Chau talking to the National Press Club
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  Speaker 1: laid in twenty twenty four, with some frank feedback. For
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  Speaker 1: Australian media outlets like US.
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  Speaker 3: However, a coverage on a country that is always in
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  Speaker 3: a negative perspect has nowhere near to telling the truth
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  Speaker 3: here in this country, the media coverage on China are
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  Speaker 3: mostly not positive.
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  Speaker 1: And frank warning about the issue that burns brightest for China,
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  Speaker 1: the island it regards as a rogue province Taiwan.
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  Speaker 3: Taiwine is not an independent state that.
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  Speaker 1: Is mind your own business, he said. China would never
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  Speaker 1: compromise on Taiwan.
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  Speaker 3: Just like no Australian governments would ever compromise on Australia's
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  Speaker 3: territory integrity, and just like maybe it's not a good example,
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  Speaker 3: but Tasmania was is will be a part of Australia.
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  Speaker 1: Now the ambassador is stepping back into public discourse with
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: another warning for Australia, don't fall in behind Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 1: Shao has written an opinion piece for The Australian published today.
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  Speaker 1: We've used an ai voice to read his.
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  Speaker 4: Words, China and Australia are friends, not foes. This should
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  Speaker 4: never have been in question.
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  Speaker 1: Sounds ominous, it's meant to well.
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  Speaker 5: The piece seems to me to be a shot across
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  Speaker 5: the bow of the urban ezy government.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Chambers is The Australian's chief political correspondent.
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  Speaker 5: There's a lot of coded language in there, and to
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  Speaker 5: me it's sort of like Ambassador Shao is making a
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  Speaker 5: tactical intervention to put forward China's view of the world,
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  Speaker 5: but as usual with Beijing's messaging, it's full of propaganda
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  Speaker 5: and untruths.
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  Speaker 1: The ambassador says some countries, that is America, have been
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  Speaker 1: hyping up a narrative that China is a threat.
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  Speaker 4: Such rhetoric and actions are steeped in cold war mentality,
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  Speaker 4: bleatantly creating division, fueling a global arms race, as well
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  Speaker 4: as threatening world peace and stability, which warrants our high vigilance.
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  Speaker 1: China's rage is directed at NATO, the North American Treaty Alliance,
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  Speaker 1: which is the US, Canada, the UK and Europe, and
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  Speaker 1: China's especially furious with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutter. Remember
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  Speaker 1: he's the one who had this strange interjection when Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump was talking about Israe and Iran.
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  Speaker 6: They've had a.
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  Speaker 2: Big fight, like two kids at a school yard. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they fight like help, you can't stop them. Let them
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  Speaker 2: fight for about two three minutes. Then it's easier to
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  Speaker 2: stap them.
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  Speaker 6: And then debty has sometimes strong language, schools strong and
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  Speaker 6: everyone you have to use a certain word.
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  Speaker 1: Ruta has made a series of statements that have truly
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  Speaker 1: enraged China, like this June tenth speech in London.
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  Speaker 6: Russia has teamed up with China, North Korea and Iran.
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  Speaker 6: They're expanding the militaries and the capabilities. They are preparing
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  Speaker 6: for a long term confrontation.
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  Speaker 4: Facing these smears and containment, China's economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience,
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  Speaker 4: and the living standards of the Chinese people have continued
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  Speaker 4: to rise.
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  Speaker 1: There isn't a direct threat in missop ed is there
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  Speaker 1: jef No?
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  Speaker 5: There often isn't Chinese officials speaking. They're powable like language.
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  Speaker 5: And you will read the and you will know that
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  Speaker 5: all of the fiercest attacks are directed at the USA.
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  Speaker 5: They don't explicitly call out the US, but it's clearly
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  Speaker 5: all about Donald Trump and the US and what they're doing,
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  Speaker 5: whether it be NATO or closer to home here in
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  Speaker 5: the Indo Pacific. And when you look at the language
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  Speaker 5: in this piece, he talks about containment, and that goes
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  Speaker 5: to Beijing's paranoia about packs that we have, things like
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  Speaker 5: the Quad Security Dialogue and also the Orcus Nuclear submarine packs.
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  Speaker 5: So you're always looking for certain types of languages, and
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  Speaker 5: once you see, for example, the word containment, you know
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  Speaker 5: that that is some of the joint exercises or those
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  Speaker 5: alliances that we have with our long standing allies.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot to unpack in Shaoutin's op ed. Let's
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  Speaker 1: start with the Wavy Ambassador Frame's Chinese history.
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  Speaker 4: China has always been a steadfast supporter, defender and promoter
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  Speaker 4: of world peace.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the People's Republic of China does talk a lot
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  Speaker 1: about peace, like the way China says it's hoping for
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  Speaker 1: the peaceful reunification of China and Taiwan. Taiwan says that
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  Speaker 1: would be an invasion or the peaceful liberation of Tibet
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty one, which the Tibetans and the United
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  Speaker 1: Nations regarded as an invasion.
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  Speaker 4: Over the past seventy plus years, China has never initiated
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  Speaker 4: a war or occupied an inch of a foreign land.
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  Speaker 4: It is the only country that has incorporated peaceful development
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  Speaker 4: in its constitution and the only country among the nuclear
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  Speaker 4: weapon states to pledge no first use of nuclear weapons.
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  Speaker 1: Other nuclear states like the US and UK, say their
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  Speaker 1: nuclear weapons are not designed for a first strike, but
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  Speaker 1: are supposed to be a deterrent to potential enemies. China
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  Speaker 1: says it's never started a war or occupied anyone else,
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  Speaker 1: but China has been involved in numerous armed conflicts with
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  Speaker 1: its neighbors, like the Korean War, when China sent forces
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  Speaker 1: to fight with the North Koreans, or nineteen seventy nine,
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  Speaker 1: when China began a series of skirmishes with Vietnam.
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  Speaker 4: China unwaveringly adheres to a defensive national defense policy, with
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  Speaker 4: military spending accounting for just one point five percent of
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  Speaker 4: its GDP.
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  Speaker 1: What China says officially is that it spends about three
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  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five billion Australian dollars per anam on defense,
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  Speaker 1: rising more than seven percent per anum over the past
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  Speaker 1: two years. The US Defense Department says it believes China
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  Speaker 1: is spending vastly more than it admits.
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  Speaker 4: It is far below the global average and paling in
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  Speaker 4: comparison to certain hegemons or their allies and partners.
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  Speaker 1: That's true, the US spends approximately one point five trillion
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  Speaker 1: Australian dollars a year on defense in percentage of GDP terms.
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  Speaker 1: China is vastly outspent by countries like Russia, Ukraine, Israel
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  Speaker 1: and the UK, although their economies are much smaller than China's,
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  Speaker 1: so the total figure is lower.
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  Speaker 5: We know that history tells a different story, both modern
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  Speaker 5: and older history, whether it's taking control of Shinjang, the
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  Speaker 5: military occupation of Tibet, and the invasion or attempted evasion
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  Speaker 5: of North Vietnam. So you've got to really cut through
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  Speaker 5: the spin of these senior Chinese officials.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up. So do we risk further aggravating China if
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  Speaker 1: we do what Donald Trump wants? So now the United
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  Speaker 1: States has made its position very clear it wants Australia
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  Speaker 1: to dramatically increase defense spending. China is now also making
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: its position very clear that it doesn't want Australia to
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  Speaker 1: do that. Anthony Albanezi wants a meeting with Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 1: So how do Albanesi and Pennywong play it from here.
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  Speaker 5: Look, it's really high stakes diplomacy right now. And I
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  Speaker 5: was just overseas for the G seven summit in Canada
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  Speaker 5: and a lot of hopes were pinged around that meeting
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  Speaker 5: between Anthony Albernesi and Donald Trump on day two. Obviously,
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  Speaker 5: the US President had to cut short his visit because
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  Speaker 5: of what was happening with Iran, but that was a blow,
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  Speaker 5: and Anthony Albernesi then really bizarrely sort of suggested that
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  Speaker 5: he might then duck over to the NATO summit at
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  Speaker 5: the Hague in the Netherlands to try and catch Donald
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  Speaker 5: Trump there, and pretty quickly came to the conclusion that's
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  Speaker 5: probably not a good look or a good idea.
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  Speaker 2: So there's furious back channeling going on.
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  Speaker 5: There was talk that Anthony alberni would head back to
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  Speaker 5: the US in September for the UN Leader's Summit, and
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  Speaker 5: that they might be able to have a catch up
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  Speaker 5: there at the White House like our other allies have done.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, there's a lot hanging on it.
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  Speaker 5: And I thought it was interesting in embass the showers
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  Speaker 5: peace and it felt like he was sort of talking
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  Speaker 5: to the labor government here and warning about the economic
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  Speaker 5: hit for countries if they were to increase their defense spending.
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  Speaker 4: We rely on the same trade routes, and no country,
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  Speaker 4: especially a major trading niche like China, has a greater
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  Speaker 4: steak in safeguarding maritime security. Differences can be addressed through dialogue,
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  Speaker 4: but they should never undermine our friendship.
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  Speaker 1: Australias in this weird position, aren't we jeff of being
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  Speaker 1: simultaneously kind of irrelevant in world politics? You know, we're
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  Speaker 1: not part of NATO, and yet it feels very high
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  Speaker 1: stakes for us. We're getting big demands from global superpowers
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  Speaker 1: who are paying close attention to what we do. Is
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  Speaker 1: it possible for Anthony Albinezi to do nothing to keep
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  Speaker 1: defense spending where it is around two percent and just
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  Speaker 1: kind of sail through here or not?
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  Speaker 5: I think they have to dramatically increase the amount that
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  Speaker 5: was defense. And while there has been a lot of
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: focus on the Middle Eastern Ukraine, the situation here in
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  Speaker 5: the Indo Pacific is where everyone fears the main game
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  Speaker 5: is and a lot of people talked about this at
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  Speaker 5: the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore where Pete Hegzeth, the
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  Speaker 5: US Defense Secretary met with Richard Marles and directly asked
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  Speaker 5: him or urged him to increase Australia's defense spending to
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  Speaker 5: three point five percent as soon as possible, and in
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  Speaker 5: his speech, Hegzet said it was clear that Beijing, which
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  Speaker 5: had made huge investments in nuclear weapons, hypersonics, amphibious assault capabilities,
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  Speaker 5: was preparing to potentially use military force. We had those
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  Speaker 5: three warships that circumnavigated Australia, conducted provocative life fire exercises
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  Speaker 5: in the Tasman Sea. You had the spy ship off
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  Speaker 5: of the Australian coast around the same time. Then you've
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  Speaker 5: got these multiple incidents of a PLA putting our ADF
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  Speaker 5: personnel at risk. We are constantly conducting joint exercises in
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  Speaker 5: the South China Sea with our partners in Japan and
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  Speaker 5: the US, the Philippines and others.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a lot going on under the surface.
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  Speaker 5: My understanding is that you know they are specifically looking
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: at funding programs. I don't know what they are at
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  Speaker 5: this point, but I suspect that he's going to have
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  Speaker 5: to do something of substance. That's in addition to say
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  Speaker 5: accessing Australia's critical minerals to actually really lock in that alliance.
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  Speaker 2: And we do so much together.
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  Speaker 5: We've got Exercise Talisman Saber coming up in the next
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  Speaker 5: few weeks, hosted by jointly by Australia in the US
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  Speaker 5: here in Australia for the first time in Papua New Guinea,
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: about nineteen countries, about thirty five thousand personnel. It's going
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: to be a huge shelforce. China won't be happy about it,
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  Speaker 5: but super critically important, and I think that's the disconnect.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: We don't always see publicly.
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  Speaker 5: We hear the politicians talking about it, but at a
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: defense and national security level, that cooperation is probably stronger
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  Speaker 5: than it ever has been before outside of World War Two.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Jeff Chambers is The Australian's chief political correspondent. Every day
• 13:18
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• 13:28
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