How China weakened the Australian Navy without firing a shot

Paul Kane/Getty Images Australia is suffering from an acute shortage of manpower, according to Australian defense minister Joel Fitzgibbon. He says, “the service suffering most is the navy, where retention and recruitment has become a real crisis.” So why is the Australian Navy in such dire straits? The Financial Times explains: Chinese demand for commodities ...

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596043_080311_navy2.jpg
PERTH, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 05: An Australian Naval Officer and sailor share a joke before boarding HMAS Anzac at Stirling Naval Base - Garden Island June 5, 2007 in Perth, Australia. HMAS Anzac is departing her homeport of HMAS Stirling at Garden Island Western Australia, for passage to the Northern Persian Gulf to take over duties from HMAS Toowoomba as part of Operation Catalyst. HMAS Anzac will be contributing to maritime operations as part of the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq. This will be the third time HMAS Anzac has deployed to the Northern Persian Gulf. Anzac represents the sixteenth rotation of Royal Australian Navy ships to serve as part of operations in the Middle East Area of Operations since 2001. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Paul Kane/Getty Images

Paul Kane/Getty Images

Australia is suffering from an acute shortage of manpower, according to Australian defense minister Joel Fitzgibbon. He says, “the service suffering most is the navy, where retention and recruitment has become a real crisis.” So why is the Australian Navy in such dire straits? The Financial Times explains:

Chinese demand for commodities has triggered a crisis in the Australian navy, whose submarine fleet is suffering from a critical crew shortage as skilled technicians are lured into higher-paying jobs by the booming mining industry.

Western Australia, in particular, is attracting workers from the Navy to work in the mining industry. Fitzgibbon says that mining companies even “hover around” West Australian naval bases hoping to recruit technicians, whose skill sets are easily transferable to mining. Wage discrepancies favoring mining can be in the tens of thousands of dollars a year, leaving the Navy unable to compete for talented workers on financial grounds.

Australia has recently spent $10 billion dollars on bolstering the navy, upgrading its fleet of advanced destroyers and warships. Last year, the Australian Navy engaged in war games with the United States, Japan, and India in a “Quadrilateral Initiative” to improve their strategic partnership and bolster regional security. Many analysts believed that this initiative and Australia’s naval investment were, ironically, targeted at containing a rising China. I guess the Chinese stumbled upon their own way of striking back.

Prerna Mankad is a researcher at Foreign Policy.

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