Navy chief Vice Admiral Mark Hammond say AUKUS doesn’t mean war with China over Taiwan is inevitable

The AUKUS agreement will not automatically drag Australia into a war to defend Taiwan, the ADF’s navy boss has declared.

Chief of navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond spoke on stage with his counterparts — US Admiral Lisa Franchetti and UK Admiral Sir Ben Key — at day one of the Indian Ocean Conference on Wednesday.

The three admirals represent each nation in the trilateral AUKUS agreement that will see rotations of nuclear-powered submarines visit Australia from 2027.

Australia will acquire the vessels in the 2030s.

The agreement is largely seen as an effort to deter and contain an increasingly belligerent China, whose leadership has a long-held goal of annexing Taiwan.

When asked if AUKUS meant Australia would inevitably be “dragged” into a conflict over the island-nation, Admiral Hammond replied sharply: “No.”

“Any participation by Australian Defence Force in any conflict, anywhere on the planet is a sovereign decision of the Australian Government, so no,” he continued.

“We operate ships that have been designed and built overseas. It doesn’t leave our sovereign decision making to those foreign governments.”

Admiral Franchetti agreed that “every nation is a sovereign nation” but said it was the military’s job to “provide options” for elected politicians and to be “ready to respond and deliver on those options”.

Asked about the stability of the AUKUS agreement if Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the admiral said she was “confident” it would continue regardless of the election outcome.

“We’ve got deep roots. The seeds were planted a long time ago and we’re continuing to water that AUKUS plant and it is continuing to grow strongly,” Admiral Franchetti said.

“I’m confident that we are going to move forward with AUKUS.”

The conference began a day after the UK’s new head of army General Sir Roland Walker made explosive remarks, claiming an “axis of upheaval” — comprised of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea — meant the nation had to be ready for war in three years.

Gen. Walker said this involved doubling the army’s fighting power by 2027 and tripling it by 2030.

Admiral Key jokingly avoided answering if he agreed with the assessment, saying the different time zone meant he had not seen the script of the general’s speech.

But he agreed that the world was becoming “less certain, with greater potential for instability” and that defence forces were obligated to ensure capabilities were “robust”.

“I quite like the challenge he set the British Army,” Admiral Key said.

“That doesn’t mean changing the size (of the army), it’s a mindset. It’s making sure that you’re optimising what you’ve got available.”

A group of anti-war protesters outside the conference claimed the event was celebrating weapons used in Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.

WA Defence Industry Minister Paul Papalia responded to the claims, saying enhancing Australia’s defence was a “noble effort”.

“This is the biggest uplift in defence capability in the nation’s history,” he said.

“It is a good thing. And it is a necessary thing in this dangerous world as Australia improves its defence capability.”