Australia on Wednesday, March 28 said it may allow Washington to use its territory to operate long-range spy drones, as part of an increased U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific that has rankled China.
According to AFP, the United States and Canberra are planning a major expansion of military ties, with the first of a 2,500-strong Marine deployment to northern Australia unveiled last November by President Barack Obama due to arrive next month.
The plan has irked Beijing and worried some Asian countries that see it as a statement by Washington that it intends to stand up for its interests in the region amid concerns of increasing assertiveness by China.
Australian media carried reports Wednesday citing a Washington Post story that the United States was considering using the Cocos Islands, atolls in the Indian Ocean off northwest Australia, to launch unmanned surveillance aircraft.
They said the Cocos, which has a population of around 600 people, would replace the present US Indian Ocean base of Diego Garcia, which America leases from Britain and is due to be mothballed in 2016.
Aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered attack submarines could also be based in Perth as part of efforts to refocus American defense resources in the region, the reports added.
Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith said the use of the Cocos Islands was a longer-term option for closer Australia-U.S. engagement and its airstrip would need to be upgraded before it could be used.
The Cocos are seen as an ideal location to base unmanned patrol planes to keep watch on the world's busiest shipping routes and the South China Sea, where territorial claims are seen as potentially dangerous flashpoints.
China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia all claim territory in the area. Hugh White, a defense analyst at the Australian National University, said Australia was being viewed as a "strategic asset" by the U.S. as it monitors China's rise.
The United States currently has only a limited deployment in longstanding ally Australia, including the remote Pine Gap satellite spy station near outback Alice Springs.
