Malcolm Fraser says the new American marine "base" near Darwin is a mistake, and that Australia's grovelling to Washington is hampering ties with Asia.
In a strongly worded submission to the federal government's white paper on future relations with Asia, Mr Fraser has criticised Australia's subservience to the US as a product of misguided assumptions America offers a security guarantee.
"Over 20 years now we have given the impression of doing that which America wants" ... "We seem to believe that our security can be best assured if we do what we can to win brownie points with the US.
This is a mistaken assumption. ''No country can really win brownie points with great powers. Great powers follow their own national interests and we should follow ours."
Mr Fraser is highly critical of the deployment of US marines in the Northern Territory, saying it fuels Chinese concerns over a policy of containment. He also dismisses claims by Labor and the Obama administration that the presence of the marines does not amount to a "base".
"For America to say that 2500 troops do not constitute a base is nonsense, indeed a fabrication," Mr Fraser writes.
"In military terms, a base does not have to be bricks and mortar. If 2500 troops are stationed in a particular place then the language makes it quite plain that they are based in that place. It is a base.
"To say that they are just passing through and that it is not a base is deceptive and misleading. It sends the wrong message, not only to China, but to countries like Indonesia."
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