The official responses to the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) from Australia’s neighbours have been muted, with only the governments of China and Japan speaking on the record in the wake of its release last week.
This muted response is in stark contrast to the response from the region on the announcement of AUKUS last year, with Indo-Pacific governments having been a lot more vocal due to the announcement that Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
The latter sparked proliferation concerns among some countries in southeast Asia, with Indonesia and Malaysia in particular voicing disquiet about the decision while China was harshly critical of the announcement by the Morrison government.
In contrast, none of the Southeast Asian country has issued an official response to the DSR, one week after it was released, while China – whose military build-up and capabilities was the main focus of the DSR – has only issued a remarkably bland response.
“China pursues a defensive national defense policy and stays committed to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and the wider world. We do not pose a challenge to any country. We hope certain countries will not use China as an excuse for military build-up and will refrain from hyping up the ‘China threat’ narrative,” said Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning, in response to media questions on the day the DSR was released.
US ally Japan, on the other hand, welcomed the DSR’s release, with Japan’s Ministry of Defense releasing a summary of a call between Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada and Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles on 28 April in which Hamada “welcomed and expressed support as its direction contributes to the peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region by strengthening Australia’s deterrence capabilities.”
Even South Korea, whose defence companies were directly impacted by the DSR – specifically to the scaling back of projects Land 400 Phase 3 (Infantry Fighting Vehicles) and Land 8116 Phase 1 for self-propelled howitzers – was silent on the DSR’s release.
This was also the case for India, one of the Quad countries that also includes Australia. It was the only one of the four members, which are also made up of Japan and United States, to not issue a response, with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin having welcomed the release of the DSR.
The latter said in a statement that it “demonstrates Australia's commitment to being at the forefront of incorporating new capabilities for the Australian Defence Force to better enable Australia to meet regional and global challenges”.