Defence Minister Richard Marles shares 'grim' military outlook as China's nuclear threat casts shadow over Indo-Pacific

Sky News AU

3 days ago

Australia and the United States have stressed the danger China poses militarily in the Indo-Pacific and beyond as top defence officials gathered in Singapore on Saturday to discuss their shared strategic concerns.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier forum for defence leaders, militaries and diplomats, Defence Minister Richard Marles underlined that the Indo-Pacific region was a defence priority for Australia and its allies.
Mr Marles said Australia acquiring a nuclear powered submarine capability through the AUKUS agreement was 'essential' to national security and would play a part in providing a 'geostrategic balance' in the Indo-Pacific.
'In a more interconnected world, bilateral controls are insufficient… China's decision to pursue rapid nuclear modernisation and expansion, which aims in part to reach parity with or surpass the United States, is another reason the future of strategic arms control must be revitalised,' he said.
Mr Marles said new and emerging avenues of warfare, such as cyber and the weaponisation of space, as well as the integration of nuclear weapons with autonomous systems, meant traditional arms control agreements and frameworks were being 'surpassed' and at risk of becoming redundant.
In a nod to the Cold War, Mr Marles said the agreements and treaties which emerged to stem nuclear proliferation had fallen into 'dangerous decline'.
'We also have to counter the grim, potentially imminent, possibility of another wave of global nuclear proliferation as states seek security in a new age of imperial ambition,' he said.
Mr Marles mentioned Moscow and Pyongyang, but underscored how Beijing has embarked on the 'largest conventional military build-up' since the end of World War II.
'And it's doing so without providing any strategic transparency or reassurance. And this remains a defining feature of the strategic complexity that the Indo-Pacific and the world faces today,' he said.
Mr Marles said the assurance from the United States that the most powerful military in the world saw the Indo-Pacific as a strategic priority was 'deeply welcome' as there was no effective balance of power in the region without the US.
'But we cannot leave it to the United States alone,' he said.
'Other countries must contribute to this balance as well, and Australia is investing in a generational transformation of the ADF to ensure we are not only in a position to deter for projection against us, but also to contribute to an effective regional balance where no state concludes that force is a viable way to achieve strategic goals.'
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also spoke at the summit and warned the threat of China was real and potentially imminent as he pushed allies in the Indo-Pacific to spend more on their own defence needs.
Hegseth echoed the Trump administration's motto of maintaining 'peace through strength' and stressed the importance of restoring the 'warrior ethos'.
"There's no reason to sugar coat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent," Hegseth said, in some of his strongest comments on the Communist nation since he took office in January.
He added that any attempt by China to conquer Taiwan "would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world", and echoed Trump's comment that China will not invade Taiwan on the president's watch.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to "reunify" with the democratic and separately governed island, by force if necessary. It has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those claims, including increasing the intensity of war games around Taiwan.
Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only the island's people can decide their future.
"It has to be clear to all that Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific," Hegseth said.
China said the comments "were steeped in provocations and instigation".
'Mr. Hegseth repeatedly smeared and attacked China and relentlessly played up the so-called 'China threat'," the Chinese embassy in Singapore said on its Facebook page.
"As a matter of fact, the US itself is the biggest 'troublemaker' for regional peace and stability."
-with Reuters