Of course, this renewed Australian push to protect itself from the growing threat from Peking isn't isolated to Australia. Trump has galvanised or cajoled a general western effort to face-down the imperialism emanating from the Middle Kingdom.

Japan, from whom we are buying these frigates, has roused itself and thrown off the pacificism that followed their defeat in 1945. They are rapidly expanding their forces and there is now the push to integrate with other anti-China nations such as Australia. The growing resistance coming from Tokyo is greatly distressing for China and increases their paranoia.

We also see the Philippines moving into the US led camp with growing US presence in places like Luzon and Subic Bay and larger numbers of missiles like HIMARS being stationed in the Philippines.

Likewise, Indonesia has only last month signed the Major Defense Cooperation Partnership (MDCP) agreement with the Trump administration, giving the west including the USA and Australia greater control of China's vital links through the Malacca Straits.

India, in the past, had a policy of trying to avoid the Chinese menace by keeping its head down while it modernised. But it also is moving into the Trump-USA camp with things like the Quad agreements and the 10-Year Defense Framework (2025–2035) signed last year with the US.

The world has awoken to the Chinese threat and is reacting. Australia is part of that. Additionally, wavering states have seen the Chinese humiliation in Venezuela, Panama and now Iran and are drawing the conclusion that the US is the strong horse in this conflict.

AI describes a "15 year record high" in RAN recruitment".

75, 000 applicants! Number accepted not known.

Unfortunately, no dates are mentioned, so we are stuck with the latest media claims that Albanese, on more than one occasion, hasn't been able to assist the U.S. because there was not a ship, or there wasn't a crew.

Given the decades of government dereliction of duty when it comes to defence, up to and including the French submarine fiasco, AUKUS being sung to the tune of ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’, and the stubborn refusal to lift defence spending to 3%, should we be taking all this sudden interest in ships seriously, one asks.

Sounds great. But, signing up to all sorts of stuff does not represent “purchases”. Purchases that should have been made long ago - at least as long ago as China has been arming itself, by itself. It makes its own. We have to rely on other countries not particularly much like ourselves, since Albanese turned his back on the U.S., and the UK is as useless, if not more so, than we are.

If any of the plans ever come to fruition by the “late 2030s”, ‘late’, as in too late, they will be. AUKUS is at the pleasure of America, and ‘signed deals’ could go the same way the French one did, with feckless politicians paying out to do so.

Hi ttbn,
"I wonder how many people under the Albanese authoritarian yoke realise that in Australia, publicised arrests such as the Ben Roberts-Smith spectacle are deliberate and part of the system. In the U.S. this type of behaviour is banned."
- Well that's absolute rubbish, the U.S. government loves the 'perpwalk' spectacles.

Did Ben Roberts Smith deliberately murder non-combatants?
Was he defending Australia or invading another country?

'the stubborn refusal to lift defence spending to 3%'
- We shouldn't be spending one cent on U.S. weapons which are only needed to be used for U.S. caused wars.

We need to step back with sober minds and look at this changing world and our place in it.

What the hell are we fighting for?
Do we still make Australian cars?
No, but China is the leading exporter of cars we import.

We can't even build the ships ourselves.
We couldn't build the subs because we didn't have enough welders.

And fighting China is such a dumb idea we may as well just burn our own country down ourselves, because everything is Chinese made now.
It would amount to the exact same thing.

America wants us to spend more but it can't even produce the weapons because it's output is minimal and China controls all the rare earth supply chains.

Hi mhaze,
"Of course, this renewed Australian push to protect itself from the growing threat from Peking".

- Please explain this growing threat in as much detail as possible.
I say you're full of it, the only threat is that they've become more powerful than the U.S. and the yanks can't accept it.
You speak like there's a 1 million strong invasion force already on the way.
China doesn't need to invade.
They could simply stop all exports to Australia and in about 2 weeks, Aussies including many in business would be looking to make any government pay dearly that did it.

You'd have everyone from single mums with screaming kids in tow to tradies all the way to corporate throwing conniption fits.
Kmart shelves empty and Wesfamers and every other businesses share price plummeting.

And we don't even have enough troops and police combined just to round up the existing Chinese we already have here, are you going to let them run free during a war?

So don't talk garbage.
The only thing this can be about is the U.S starting a war with China itself to maintain it's own hegemony so cut the crap.
Beyond that China doesn't need to do anything to 'win' anyway.

It's up to Japan, Taiwan and South Korea to maintain their own healthy relationship with China.
Some of them are sick of the U.S. as well, they doubt it's ability to protect them and wish they would leave but are too polite to say so.

It's people like yourself that will drag out countries kids to early graves in unnecessary conflict.
- And they're not up to it either.

'anti-China nations such as Australia'
- How about you go without using Chinese made goods for a week?
If you wish to be China's enemy fine, go down the local shops and wear a 'I hate China' T-shirt for all I care.
Just don't include the rest of us in your march to conflict and destruction.

'Can't even build the ships ourselves'
'SHUTTUP! I'M OUTRAGED HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT?'
- 'We PLAN to build SOME of the ships ourselves, eventually!'

That's the equivalent of saying:

'Yes, right now I shite in an old paint can, but I PLAN to install a toilet in a few years'
- And the person responding by nodding in acknowledgement, but thinking to themselves 'That's pretty doubtful'.

Btw, didn't we build some ships a while back and arm them with peashooters or something?