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 ...
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.
More from Foreign Policy


Russians Are Unraveling Before Our Eyes
A wave of fresh humiliations has the Kremlin struggling to control the narrative.


A BRICS Currency Could Shake the Dollar’s Dominance
De-dollarization’s moment might finally be here.


Is Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’ Factual or Farcical?
A former U.S. ambassador, an Iran expert, a Libya expert, and a former U.K. Conservative Party advisor weigh in.


The Battle for Eurasia
China, Russia, and their autocratic friends are leading another epic clash over the world’s largest landmass.