In 1942, the Japanese air force dropped more bombs over Darwin than they had used at Pearl Harbor and in the process turned Australia into a rock-solid ally of the US. On Thursday, Barack Obama visited the same northern Australian town and re-cast the alliance for a new era.
The numbers of American marines to be based in Darwin may be modest but the strategic significance is not. The beefed-up security pact with Australia is a hugely important episode in the growing geopolitical contest between China and the US over the future of Asia.
For the past three decades, Australia has served as a sort of early-warning system for the rise of China. To understand the effect China is having on the world, Australia has been a good place to start.
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