The Federal Government is pledging to build a large, new naval ship that will cruise the south Pacific and help Australia’s neighbours deal with natural disasters as part of what is being seen as Australia’s “pivot” to the neighbouring region, Fairfax Media’s David Wroe reports.
Fairfax Media can also reveal that the planned redevelopment of the Manus Island naval base in Papua New Guinea is widely seen within the government as having a longer-term strategic potential to allow Australian ships and even aircraft to project power well into the Pacific, where China is increasingly contesting the United States’ traditional dominance.
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