From: The Australian

PAUL MALEY and BRENDAN NICHOLSON

JULIA Gillard will this week identify the rise of China and a massive escalation in cyber attacks against government and industry as two of the key security issues facing the nation in a major address designed to strengthen Labor’s defence credentials.

The Prime Minister will use her first important speech of the election year – to the Australian National University’s National Security College in Canberra on Wednesday – to outline Australia’s national security objectives, actions and priorities over the next five years.

Sources familiar with the document described it as a “much more substantial” contribution than then prime minister Kevin Rudd’s 2008 national security statement to parliament, which was criticised for being too vague and wide-ranging and was hastily rewritten in the lead-up to its delivery.

However, The Australian understands Ms Gillard’s statement will contain no new policy initiatives or resource commitments. Instead, the document focuses on Australia’s strategic environment – in particular, the growing economic, political and military clout of China.

“The remarkable growth and opportunity we see in Asia could not have happened without an environment of relative peace and stability,” Ms Gillard will tell her audience. “Continuing and deepening that atmosphere of relative peace and stability is at the forefront of Australia’s national security agenda. Indeed, nothing is more important in Australia’s security outlook.”

As a leaked draft copy of the defence white paper obtained by The Australian late last year made clear, Australia’s security planners are increasingly concerned that the rise of China is altering the regional balance and diminishing Australia’s relative strategic weight.

The national security strategy builds on that, as well as the Asian Century white paper.

Greater attention is also paid to the Indo-Pacific region and the growing importance of maritime issues in that region, such as the sea-lines of communication.

The government is particularly concerned about the possible escalation of territorial disputes in areas such as the South China Sea, which could impede the heavy maritime traffic heavily relied on by Australia.

It is understood Ms Gillard’s national security strategy was written to be “compatible” with the Asian Century white paper, which was delivered in October and set 25 objectives aimed at deepening Australia’s engagement with the booming Asia-Pacific region.

To that end, the document will be more “strategic” in its perspective than Mr Rudd’s 2008 statement, focusing more on regional flashpoints and potential conflicts.

The paper will argue that along with the promise of greater economic opportunity, the growth of the Asia-Pacific carries an increase in the strategic risk for Australia. However, despite the focus on emerging powers such as China and India, the paper reiterates the central importance of the US-Australia relationship in ensuring the nation’s security.

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