USA militarisation in Australia is disturbing to China
The Global Times, a tabloid owned by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper, hit hard upon the theme of 
besiegement. It quoted a People’s Liberation Army major general as saying that the expanded U.S. training and deployment base inAustralia was one of a series of U.S. installations to “encircle China from the north to the south of the Asia-Pacific region.”….
Beijing is wary of Obama’s assertive China policy , Taiwan News, By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press 2011-11-18 President Barack Obama‘s sudden moves to contest rising Chinese power are setting this capital on edge, even if in public the response has been muted.
During his ongoing nine-day swing through the Asia-Pacific region, Obama has already unveiled a plan for an expanded U.S. Marines presence in Australia, advocated a new free-trade area that leaves China out, and called on Beijing not to buck the current world order.
The Beijing government is trying to understand the shift, tasking academic experts to review the initiatives and submit options on how to respond. Continue reading
Darwin U.S. military base opens the way for cluster munitions and nuclear-powered vessels
probability cluster munitions will be stockpiled in Darwin since there are known plans for the US to base a number of B-52 bombers historically used to deploy cluster bombs. It is already known that nuclear weapons will not be permitted onto Australian territory, but a number of the US’ naval fleet are nuclear-powered vessels which will be allowed…….
Both acts would result in Australia violating the spirit and intent of the Convention—to eliminate cluster munitions and the harm they cause for all time. And both are likely to occur as a result of the US base in Darwin.
Theorising Darwin: US may stockpile and transit cluster munitions Crikey, November 17, 2011 , by NAJ Taylor, A US military ‘base’ in Darwin will necessitate foreign weapons systems and armaments being stockpiled, retained and transited on and in Australian territory (spun as a “rotational deployment” – for China? I’ll use base until I know better).
Whilst long-standing and committed allies, Australia and the United States hold different positions on many matters relating to both arms control and humanitarian law. One recent normative development where the US and Australia’s views have diverged is the ban on cluster bombs, Continue reading
India wants to be treated differently from other nations
The problem with the Prime Minister’s argument, of course, is that the existing policy does not treat India differently at all….The problem is rather the opposite of what the Prime Minister says: it is not that Australia treats India differently, but that India wishes to be treated differently.
If India wants uranium, let it sign the treaty The Age, 16 Nov 11Trade advantage does not make safety negotiable. THE Prime Minister, writing on our opinion page yesterday, complained that ”despite links of language, heritage and democratic values”, Australia continues to ”treat India differently”. The differential treatment, she says, lies in the fact that we do not sell India uranium for peaceful purposes, despite selling it to China, Japan and the United States. It is time, she believes, to abandon this attitude to India, while acting in our own economic best interests.
At the ALP federal conference in Sydney next month, Ms Gillard will propose that the party make an exception to its policy that Australia should continue to adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, by allowing uranium exports to India. This will be all right, apparently, because we will ”expect of India the same standards we do for all countries for uranium export – strict adherence to International Atomic Energy arrangements and strong bilateral undertakings and transparency measures that will provide assurances our uranium will only be used for peaceful purposes”. Continue reading
Obama pops in to Australia to dictate policy on uranium sales to India
Gillard uranium move linked to US: report, Business Spectator, 16 Nov 2011 Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s move to open the door to uranium exports to India reportedly follows talks with the Obama administration. The US has been pursuing a closer partnership with India and considers Australia a key part of its strategy, The Australian reported on Wednesday.
Ms Gillard has denied that the decision was made to coincide with President Barack Obama’s visit to Australia and said it was her decision alone.The Australian, however, reported that US and Australian officials have been in intense strategic discussions about India for several months. http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Gillard-uranium-move-linked-to-US-report-NMLD2?OpenDocument&src=hp3
India can thank Uncle Sam for Julia Gillard’s uranium backflip, First Post India, 16 Nov 11 Uttara Choudhury New York: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s dramatic decision to open the door to uranium exports to India came after talks with the Obama administration, which viewed the ban as a “fly in the ointment” to greater engagement between Washington, New Delhi and Australia in the Indian Ocean region…….
Gillard announced on Tuesday that she will ask the Australian Labour Party to dump its ban on uranium sales to India, at its national conference next month. The ban was imposed by former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2008 as India wasn’t a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Gillard has denied her decision to seek to overturn the ban is in order to fall in line with the US. She bristled when questioned on the timing of the announcement which coincided with Obama’s state visit to Australia. Gillard said the decision was hers alone…..
She did, however, point to the US-India civil nuclear agreement of 2008, which lifted the “de facto international ban” on the sale of uranium to India….. While Beijing has learned to live with American forces on its eastern periphery, the possibility of an intimate US-India military relationship, as well as India’s position astride China’s key maritime shipping lanes, has generated fears of encirclement…
Uranium sales to India will trigger India-Pakistan arms race
Should the ALP back Ms Gillard’s call,… this would be seen as “another example of international hypocrisy when it comes to Pakistan”.
Fear trade move will trigger arms race, BY:AMANDA HODGE , THE AUSTRALIAN, November 16, 2011 :SECURITY analysts on both sides of the India-Pakistan border have warned that the decision to sell Australian uranium to India could trigger an arms race between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Pakistani nuclear physics professor and analyst Pervez Hoodbhoy told The Australian many people would be dismayed by Julia Gillard’s push to end the ban on uranium sales to India, given the likelihood it would stoke nuclear proliferation in South Asia.
“It’s very disappointing, because it’s well known that if India gets Australian uranium it will be able to divert a bigger fraction of domestically mined uranium for the production of fissile material used for making bombs,” Continue reading
Pakistan says that Australia should sell uranium to it, too
Pakistan says it should be allowed to buy uranium, ABC Radio National PM Michael Edwards ,
November 15, 2011, MARK COLVIN: Pakistan says that if Australia sells uranium to India, it too should be eligible for exports of the product. India’s chief rival is also a nuclear power and, like India, a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Pakistan says it could use Australian uranium to boost its civilian nuclear power program. And its High Commissioner to Australia says itwould be discrimination to sell to India and not to Pakistan… http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3367265.htm
Australia’s uneasy reliance on China for economy, and USA for ? defense security
“China is the elephant in the room for Obama and Gillard,”
Obama Meets Gillard as Embattled First Leaders Shadowed by China
Resources, Bloomberg, By Jason Scott and Margaret Talev – Nov 13, 2011 President Barack Obama arrives this week in an Australia whose economy is reliant on billions of dollars in mineral and energy contracts from emerging superpower China and whose security depends on an alliance with the U.S. — China’s biggest rival.
Indonesia not happy about planned big USA military base in Darwin
”Psychologically, it is not easy to have such a big presence on the doorstep, people in Indonesia still look at Australia with suspicion about hidden motives,”
Indonesia wants answers on US military plans, The Age, Daniel Flitton and Jessica Wright, November 12 2011 INDONESIA will seek an urgent explanation from Prime Minister Julia Gillard about plans to station US marines in Darwin, questioning the need for a military build-up on the country’s doorstep. Continue reading
Australia needing protection from nuclear China? – but keen to sell uranium to China
Hey China, come get our uranium, Northern Territory News, DAVID WOOD | November 8th, 2011 TERRITORY Resources Minister Kon Vatskalis has told Chinese mining conference delegates there were many uranium mining investment opportunities in the Territory for the next decade…..
Mr Vatskalis said since the start of a government strategy to increase Chinese investment, there had been 16 agreements signed between Chinese and Territory companies and 53 exploration licences granted to Chinese exploration companies with $157 million in publicly announced deals.
There have been 21 Chinese companies investment in exploration and mining in the Territory…
He said that there was great potential for uranium mines, with a prime example being a majority equity investment in the Energy Metal Bigrlyi project in the Ngalia Central Australian mine by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group…..
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2011/11/08/271261_nt-business.html
Kevin Rudd’s contradictory messages on nuclear disarmament
Anti-nuclear Rudd urged US to keep arsenal for deterrence, The Age, Daniel Flitton November 14, 2011 KEVIN Rudd’s public ambition as prime minister to help rid the world of nuclear weapons was secretly tempered by private messages urging the US to preserve a ”reliable” and ”credible” atomic arsenal, newly declassified documents reveal.
Mr Rudd made a campaign against nuclear weapons a hallmark of his foreign policy while in the top job, saying Australia had to reclaim credentials for the ”ultimate objective of a nuclear weapons-free world”. This chimed with hopes of then incoming US President Barack Obama, who pledged to put nuclear disarmament back on the global agenda.
But reflecting the dilemma of pushing for disarmament but not fully trusting other countries to keep any such bargain, Australia urged its American ally to hang on to its nuclear weapons for ”deterrence”…..
The submission is one of a bundle of secret defence documents obtained by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons under freedom of information law. Defence officials acknowledged the human cost of a nuclear war would be ”staggering” but said without a time frame for eradicating atomic weapons – and with ”complex and prolonged” negotiations likely in the meantime – the nuclear option should remain. Continue reading
While USA sells nuclear technology to China, Australia gets USA military base against China
The full range of U.S. naval ships is expected to rotate through the joint facilities, stopping for exercises as well as repairs and other shore work. Naval aircraft also will have access to a base in Darwin.
The increased U.S. presence will be a rotating force, one person said. In September, Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the enhance cooperation would be “more ships in, ships out; more planes in, planes out; more troops in, troops out.”….
U.S. to Build Up Military in Australia, WSJ, By LAURA MECKLER, WASHINGTON, 12 Nov 11—President Barack Obama will announce an accord for a new and permanent U.S. military presence in Australia when he visits next week, a step aimed at countering China’s influence and reasserting U.S. interest in the region, said people familiar with his plans. Continue reading
USA to sell nuclear technology to Chinese company involved in nuclear weapons
“It’s our first real entry into supporting this nuclear market, which for us is huge,”…
The cooperation with Exelon appears to be a significant pivot for CNNC, which in recent years unsuccessfully lobbied Beijing against embracing foreign nuclear technology standards. The company is also responsible for developing military nuclear capabilities for the People’s Liberation Army. China has embraced AP1000 reactor technology made by Toshiba Corp. unit Westinghouse….
Exelon to Provide Nuclear Advice to China, WSJ, 12 Nov 11, By BRIAN 
SPEGELE, BEIJING—Exelon Corp. will provide consulting and training services to an arm of state-owned China National Nuclear Corp., ……. As part of the deal disclosed on Friday, instructors from Chicago-based Exelon will be stationed at Qinshan Nuclear Power Station in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. The initial consulting deal is a small one…..Exelon said it could subsequently grow to include a variety of services for China’s nascent nuclear industry. Continue reading
Australia’s energy resources boom threatened by China’s move to renewable energy
China may go green
A BEIJING academic has warned Australia not to rely too much on China’s demand for iron ore and coal because a move to green power from the Asian powerhouse was real and could stem consumption of our exports.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/carbon-plan/china-may-go-green/story-fn99tjf2-1226190686413
Well, that is all I could get – unable to get online material from THE AUSTRALIAN. I think it’s because I haven’t paid up a subscription to it. – Christina Macpherson
Australia’s newest uranium mine, Honeymoon, is majority owned by Russia
Uranium One is now majority owned by the Russian’s…will they be first to sell uranium to Russia under the Howard-Putin deal that was ratified without any changes by PM Gillard & Foreign Affairs Minister Rudd against the recommendations of a JSCT Parliamentary Inquiry to not proceed with the deal ?
AUSTRALIA’S fourth uranium mine – Honeymoon in the northeast of South Australia – is up and running. Owned by Uranium One, It is the first uranium project to reach production since the Australian Labor Party scrapped its no-new mines policy in 2007.
Submission by Australian rare earths company Lynas rejected by Malaysia on safety concerns
Miti on Lynas plant: Safety is top priority, Free Malaysia Today Stephanie Sta Maria, | November 8, 2011, Lynas will not be allowed to operate its plant until it meets IAEA conditions. KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) today clarified its stand on the controversial rare earth plant in Gebeng, saying the government would not allow Lynas Corporation Ltd to operate if it flouted the rules.
Miti secretary general Rebecca Sta Maria said safety was the ministry’s top priority.
Last week the government revealed that it had rejected Lynas’ submissions on safety requirements for the RM1.5 billion rare earth refinery. This followed reports by the Australian Associated Press that Lynas was expected to commence operations late this year and begin commercially supplying radiation-risk rare earth by next year. Continue reading
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