Vast Majority of Australians Don’t Want to Take Sides in East China Sea Dispute: Poll

Posted by david on Jan 6, 2015 in Blog | 0 comments

This is interesting.  The results perhaps reflect Australia’s position as a major beneficiary of China trade but at the same time its security alliance with the US.   So, the Auzzies are prone to sit on the fence which is rational.  On the other hand, a fair number of them don’t even know what the dispute is about.

The big question is whether Americans would support their navy’s aid to the Japanese should there be any big flare-ups over the Diaoyus.  Although the US and Japan are locked in a security treaty and the Obama Administration has been vocal about US obligations, American public sentiment is another matter.  Americans are becoming less and less inclined to support going to war over Taiwan let alone the Diaoyus.

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71 per cent of those surveyed in a poll commissioned by the Australia-China Relations Institute, headed by former Foreign Minister Bob Carr, think Australia should remain neutral.

Only 15 per cent were of the view that Australia should support Japan and the US.

The cluster of islands have been home to an ongoing territorial dispute between Japan and China.

Should a US President phone the Australian Prime Minister to ask for help in the future, 68 per cent of respondents in the poll believed he should turn America down — 14 per cent said he should say yes.

But only 40 per cent of the 1000 people polled by UMR Research were aware of the dispute at all.

Ex-Foreign Minister Bob Carr, Director of the Institute, said the East China Sea is the most volatile of any disputes that could see Australia drawn into armed conflict.

“The poll confirms Australians overwhelmingly want their country to stay neutral,” he said.

“As far as the public is concerned we are not obliged under ANZUS to make any commitment.

“We know that Australians overwhelmingly support the ANZUS treaty but this poll confirms they do not want it invoked in conflict between China and Japan over the islands in the East China Sea.”

– news.com.au