Australia warns against China military buildup as U.S. calls on Canberra to spend more

Globe and Mail

2 days ago

Australia's top defence official has called on China to provide more transparency around its 'extraordinary military buildup,' as Washington urged Canberra to increase its own military budget to counter Beijing.
Speaking Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering in Singapore of top Asia-Pacific military officials, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said China had not provided other countries in the region any 'strategic reassurance' around the massive expansion of the People's Liberation Army in recent years.
'What we have seen from China is the single biggest increase in military capability and buildup in a conventional sense, by any country since the end of the Second World War,' Mr. Marles said. 'That is one of the key features of the complexity of the strategic landscape, which all of us face within the region and which is faced around the world.'
This is happening 'without a clear strategic intent on the part of China,' he said, adding Canberra and its allies want to see 'strategic transparency and strategic reassurance' from Beijing about why it needs to have 'such an extraordinary military buildup.'
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Mr. Marles's comments come as Australia, like many U.S. allies, is facing pressure from Washington to spend more militarily. In a statement Friday, the Pentagon said U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had urged Canberra to 'increase its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of its GDP as soon as possible.'
Australia has previously committed to spending upward of 2.3 per cent of its GDP on defence by 2033, and on Monday the country's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, pushed back against Washington, saying 'what you should do in defence is decide what you need, your capability, and then provide for it.'
'That's what my government is doing,' he said.
Speaking to reporters over the weekend, Mr. Marles said 'there are a lot of competing demands on public money,' but defended his government as having 'engaged in the biggest increase in defence spending in the history of peacetime Australia.'
While the U.S. has taken a more isolationist role under President Donald Trump, particularly in Europe, where it has pulled back from supporting Ukraine and put pressure on partners to massively increase spending on their own defence, Mr. Hegseth has sought to reassure allies in Asia that Washington is still committed to confronting China.
'We do not seek conflict with Communist China. We will not instigate nor seek to subjugate or humiliate,' Mr. Hegseth said in a speech in Singapore. 'But we will not be pushed out of this critical region. And we will not let our allies and partners be subordinated and intimidated.'
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Pointing to Chinese military expansion in the South China Sea and repeated threats to invade democratic Taiwan, Mr. Hegseth said there was no doubt Beijing 'seeks to become a hegemonic power in Asia.'
'We cannot look away, and we cannot ignore it. China's behaviour towards its neighbours and the world is a wake-up call,' he said.
'President Trump has also said that Communist China will not invade Taiwan on his watch. So, our goal is to prevent war, to make the costs too high, and peace the only option. And we will do this with a strong shield of deterrence, forged together with you – America's great allies and defence partners. Together, we will show what it means to execute peace through strength.'
The Shangri-La Dialogue is typically an opportunity for the U.S. defence secretary to meet his Chinese counterpart, but Beijing kept a low profile at this year's event and Defence Minister Dong Jun did not attend in person.
China's reasoning for this is unclear. While tensions have been high with Washington under Mr. Trump, Beijing has also recently renewed a crackdown on corruption at the top ranks of the PLA, with several top military officials indicted or disappearing from view in recent months.
A spokesman for the Chinese military, Zhang Xiaogang, did respond to Mr. Hegseth's speech Sunday, saying the U.S. official's remarks were 'filled with deeply ingrained hegemonic logic, bullying behaviour, and Cold War mentality.'
'China has always been a guardian and promoter of peace and development in the Asia-Pacific region,' Mr. Zhang added. 'The Chinese military will work together with regional countries to jointly oppose hegemonism that harms the Asia-Pacific, to oppose the introduction of geopolitical conflicts into the Asia-Pacific, and resist any country or force creating chaos.'