Defence Minister Richard Marles can't answer important China question four months on from unprecedented 'show of force' in Australia's backyard
Defence Minister Richard Marles was quizzed on the threat China poses in the Indo-Pacific at Newscorp's 'Defending Australia' summit on Monday.
'In conventional terms, unquestionably, (China) is at the heart of the complex strategic circumstances that we face,' the Deputy Prime Minister said.
However, Marles stopped short of naming China as a military threat, instead saying it was not providing reassurance to other countries around its intentions regarding its biggest military expansion since the Second World War.
'(China) is engaging in a military build-up of that scale... without strategic reassurance.'
'Every country has a right to properly invest in its own defences, but what's really important is that you provide strategic reassurance to your neighbours and to the world about what that's about, as we have done with AUKUS,' he added.
The Prime Minister was similarly guarded last week when asked at the National Press Club in Canberra if China was a threat.
'I think that our engagement with the region and the world needs to be diplomatic, needs to be mature and needs to avoid the, you know, attempts to simplify what are a complex set of relationships,' he said.
This is despite the Chinese navy conducting live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea in February, without giving prior notification to the Australian government.
The alert was first picked up on the 121.5 MHz emergency radio channel by a Virgin Australia pilot, later prompting 49 commercial flights to reroute.
The naval fleet of four vessels, including a cruiser, a frigate, a supply tanker and possibly a submarine, then circumnavigated Australia's coastline in an unprecedented move that most defence analysts interpreted as a show of force.
It comes after Albanese was last week urged to boost Australia's defence spending or risk being stranded in 'no-man's-land' with a 'paper IDF'.
A report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute praised the Labor government's commitment to long-term defence projects, such as the AUKUS submarine deal, but warned it was not doing nearly enough in the immediate future.
'That slow pace risks leaving the ADF ill-prepared for current threats and unable to keep pace with future challenges, creating a 'no-man's-land' of preparedness,' the report's author and former Home Affairs deputy secretary Marc Ablong wrote.
'The timelines for major acquisitions, especially the nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS partnership, extend well into the next decade and beyond.
'While those future capabilities are strategically important, they offer little immediate enhancement, thus creating a 'paper ADF' that lacks readiness for near-term conflict scenarios.'
US President Donald Trump has called on Australia to boost its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP - up from the current rate of around 2.3 per cent.
The US administration has also launched a 30-day review of the $368 billion AUKUS submarine deal.
The pact between Australia, the US, and the UK is aimed at countering China's expanding presence in the Indo-Pacific.
But the Pentagon review will assess whether the deal meets Trump's 'America First' objectives.
Albanese is expected to meet Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada later this week.
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