Revealed: radical escalation in US war machine funding for Australian Government “think tank” ASPI

The Australia-China relationship has hit new lows, with China’s ban on a range of imports threatening $20 billion of Australian exports. However, just in the past few days Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said Australia’s position has been wrongly interpreted as siding with the United States over China, and that his government would not make a “binary choice” between the superpowers.

Which makes the funding of the Federal Government-owned think-tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a constant critic of China, even more curious. Two of its biggest sources of funding are the US State Department, whose secretary Mike Pompeo has led the charge of global anti-China sentiment, and foreign weapons makers.

ASPI’s annual…