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's military needs to keep focused on the Pacific region.
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's headquarters in Bahrain, where five Australians are already posted.
바카라We won't be sending a ship or a plane,바카라 he told Sky News television. 바카라That said, we will be almost tripling our contribution to the combined maritime force.바카라
바카라We 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,바카라 Marles added.
The US and its allies are concerned by China's growing assertiveness in the region.
Australia is one of the United States' 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.
Marles rejected opposition lawmakers' criticism that a failure to send a warship as the United States had requested made Australia a less reliable partner and ally.
바카라That's patently ridiculous,바카라 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.
바카라It 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're doing in the immediate region,바카라 Marles said.
Opposition defense spokesman Andrew Hastie called on Australia to send a warship.
바카라It's 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,바카라 Hastie said.
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.
