Australia urges US to expand Asia military presence or face ‘catastrophic’ balance of power failure
- The region faces a military build-up ‘at a rate unseen since World War II’, Australia’s defence minister said in Washington
- He had earlier warned that Beijing was trying to ‘shape the world around it in a way that we’ve not seen before’
Speaking in Washington on Monday, Marles, who is also Australia’s deputy prime minister, said the region was currently facing a military build-up “at a rate unseen since World War II” as part of an “intensification of major power competition”.
Marles said the invasion of Ukraine by Russia earlier in the year showed the dangers to regional stability when “one country’s determined military build-up convinced its leader that the potential benefit of conflict was worth the risk”.
“In the years ahead, the US-Australia alliance will not only have to operate in a much more challenging strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific. It will need to contribute to a more effective balance of military power aimed at avoiding a catastrophic failure of deterrence,” he said.