The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6277 4022
Fax: (02) 6277 8495
|
Electorate Office Contact:
Morningside Office:
630 Wynnum Road
Morningside Qld 4170
Postal Address:
PO Box 476A
Morningside Qld 4170
Tel: (07) 3899 4031
Fax: (07) 3899 5755 |
Dear Prime Minister,
First, I would like to congratulate your party on winning government and yourself on becoming Australia's Prime Minister.
I am writing to you now to urge your government to oppose Australia's involvement in research and development of the US missile defence program.
This will drag us into a massively expensive, controversial and still-experimental system which has the potential to provoke a new arms race and seriously destabilise our region.
Cost: If we are prepared to spend money on a flawed system it will do nothing to protect people, but only encourage further nuclear proliferation.
Estimates at the final cost of the US missile defence system run into trillions of dollars. The Bush administration is finding this cost so great that they have been trying to convince allies to help with investments in the research and development phase of the project.
The former Howard Government complied, but refused to provide any figures of how much Australia will be expected to contribute towards this. We hope your government will expose the financially wasteful nature of this system and refuse to participate.
While there may be a Budget surplus, such funds are needed for Medicare, public health and other essential services you have been publicly supporting.
Regional arms race and security: Chinese embassy officials in Canberra have warned that any plan for Australia to join the US missile defence program could spark a regional arms race and risk regional stability and security.
In February 2002 the Office of National Assessments warned the Federal Government that the US missile defence system could provoke a regional arms race and “would not be in Australia’s diplomatic or security interests”.
Theatre Missile Defence (TMD): The People’s Republic of China clearly believes the US has a policy of containing China with theatre missile defence (TMD) deployments in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea and on ships and planes throughout the region.
The Howard Government signed up for theatre missile defence when it announced that work would start on three new air-warfare destroyers by 2006. It was expected they will be equipped with the US Aegis radar and missile systems.
The Chinese Defense Minister criticised Japan’s decision to launch a missile defense program in 2007, using the Aegis system and Patriot missiles.
China has said that development of TMD counteracts confidence-building efforts in the region, deepens instability in the region and is bound to undermine the global strategic balance.
Nuclear threat: The January 2002 Nuclear Posture Review lays out the Bush administration plans for “pre-emptive” and “preventative” use of nuclear weapons (nuclear first strike) against named countries including China and North Korea.
Pentagon planners believe a missile defence “shield” will allow the US to launch such a nuclear first strike without fear of retaliation.
This is in direct opposition to the security needs of Australians and others and to any commitment to international disarmament.
Missile defence will not work: A report by the General Accounting Office of the US Congress warned that the anti-missile system is hampered by immature technology and limited testing, raising the risk of failure. This is the latest in a series of authoritative assessments that missile defence cannot be made to work. Since research began in 1976, attempts to destroy mock warheads have failed more than 70 per cent of the time
Rear Admiral Eugene J. Carroll, Jr. (USN, ret.), Vice-President of the Center for Defense Information in Washington, says: "The least likely threat we face is some third-rate nation developing an ICBM and launching it at the United States knowing they will get back 50 times what they send. There are all kinds of ways that are cheaper and more reliable — smuggling in a suitcase bomb, for example — to inflict harm and not be subject to instantaneous retaliation."
Militarising space: It is generally believed that the Bush administration's space military program is essentially about "missile defense". In fact missile defence is part of a broader program to make space a new arena of war.
A 2001 report for the US Space Command rhapsodised about the "synergy of space superiority with land, sea, and air superiority" that would come with missile defence and other projects to militarise space.
The U.S. Space Command report, Vision for 2020, speaks of “dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect U.S. interests and investment.”
The US Air Force Space Command Strategic Master Plan says the United States intends to dominate the world by turning space into the crucial battlefield of the 21st Century, adding that the US will not allow any other power, including its allies, to get a foothold in space.
In conclusion, there is no benefit for Australians in participating in the so-called "missile defence" program. We will suffer economically, our security will be damaged, trade and diplomacy will be undermined, relations with our regional neighbours will be negatively affected and our sovereignty will be diminished.
I urge you and your government to oppose Australian involvement in the US missile defence program and to develop Australia’s relations in our region as an independent partner and not a deputy sheriff.
Yours sincerely, |
