- The Strategist - https://www.aspistrategist.org.au -
NATO and ANZUS as contrasting cousins
Posted By Graeme Dobell on April 29, 2019 @ 06:00
The only guarantee that is given in the Pacific treaty is that the nations will consult in common and that they will discuss the matters that affect their common well-being. There is no real obligation in the treaty on anybody and on some grounds it would be better to have no treaty at all.
As in the case of the North Atlantic Treaty, the precise action to be taken by each party is not specified. There is no obligation on Australia to make any immediate formal declaration of war; the United States, for its part, could not constitutionally accept such a binding obligation. But the broad intention is that an attack on one shall be regarded as an attack on all.
China’s importance for the future is awkward for NATO. The alliance was not set up to handle it. It has no policy for dealing with it and no real relationship with it. Yet in the coming years, as America has to devote ever more attention and resources to it, China could profoundly affect the choices the alliance faces.
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[1] NATO: https://www.nato.int/
[2] ANZUS: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/anzus
[3] Robert Kaplan: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=_ZopDwAAQBAJ&dq=%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%CB%9CFor+well+over+half+a+century%2C+the+North+Atlantic+Treaty+Organisation+%28NATO%29+condensed+a+millennia-long+tradition+of+political+and+moral+values+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80%9C+the+West%2C+in+shorthand+%C3%A2&q=For+well+over+half+a+century%2C+the+North+Atlantic+Treaty#v=onepage&q&f=false
[4] Robert Kagan: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/07/15/natos-global-peace-is-unraveling-and-we-cant-see-it/
[5] the dependent ally: https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Dependent_ally.html?id=Q3qGAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y
[6] Coral Bell: https://archive.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/coral-bell-legacy-great-writing
[7] 63 military alliances over five centuries: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/0630_nato_alliance_warren.pdf
[8] NATO treaty: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm
[9] Arthur Calwell argued that the weaker wording: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/hansard80/hansardr80/1952-03-04/toc_pdf/19520304_reps_20_216.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%221950s%22
[10] ANZUS is worse than no treaty: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/01/its-time-to-face-the-truth-about-anzus-its-worse-than-no-treaty-at-all
[11] Richard Casey gave parliament: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/hansard80/hansardr80/1952-02-21/toc_pdf/19520221_reps_20_216.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%221950s%22
[12] serious about their defence: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/nato-defence-spending-is-2-the-magic-number/
[13] continues to deliver as expected: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/boring-is-the-new-black-defence-budget-2019-20/
[14] global partners: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_48899.htm
[15] NATO at 70: https://www.economist.com/special-report/2019/03/14/what-nato-is-doing-to-keep-abreast-of-new-challenges