Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I mentioned earlier Singapore's engagement with us, and the recent visit by the three ministers in the Singapore government. They have a US naval deployment in Singapore. I know of no governments in the Asian region, apart from China, which have expressed concern about a rotating marine presence in Northern Australia. As regards China, just as we do not object to China's military modernisation while at the same time asking the Chinese to be explicit about its purpose, scale and direction, no-one could raise an objection to Australia attending to its security concerns by nurturing a treaty relationship that goes back a very long time—not just 50 years to the ANZUS treaty but 50 years earlier than that, when the Deakin government expressed an interest in American involvement in the Asia-Pacific.