Australia will send 11 military personnel to support a US-led mission to protect cargo shipping in the Red Sea, but it will not send a warship or plane, the defense minister said Thursday. Defense Minister Richard Marles said Australia\u2019s military needs to keep focused on the Pacific region.<\/p>\n
The United States announced this week that several nations are creating a force to protect commercial shipping from attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. Marles said 11 military personnel will be sent in January to Operation Prosperity Guardian\u2019s headquarters in Bahrain, where five Australians are already posted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t be sending a ship or a plane,\u201d he told Sky News television. \u201cThat said, we will be almost tripling our contribution to the combined maritime force.\u201d \u201cWe need to be really clear around our strategic focus, and our strategic focus is our region: the northeast Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, the Pacific,\u201d Marles added.<\/p>\n
The US and its allies are concerned by China\u2019s growing assertiveness in the region. Australia is one of the United States\u2019 closest military allies. The US Congress last week passed legislation allowing the sale of Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia under a security pact that includes Britain.<\/p>\n
Marles rejected opposition lawmakers\u2019 criticism that a failure to send a warship as the United States had requested made Australia a less reliable partner and ally. \u201cThat\u2019s patently ridiculous,\u201d Marles said. The United States is aware of the scale of the Australian defense force and the need to maintain its focus on the Asia-Pacific region, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is to state the obvious that to take a major asset and put it in the Middle East is to take a major asset away from what we\u2019re doing in the immediate region,\u201d Marles said. Opposition defense spokesman Andrew Hastie called on Australia to send a warship. \u201cIt\u2019s in our national interest to contribute. If we want others to help us in a time of need, we need to step up and reciprocate now,\u201d Hastie said.<\/p>\n
Several cargo ships in the Red Sea have been damaged by the attacks. Multiple shipping companies have ordered their ships not enter the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until security is improved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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