China launches ‘biggest military build-up in the world’
Defense Minister Marles warns of the geopolitical threats posed by Beijing to the Indo-Pacific region
Fears about China’s massive military “build-up” in the South and East China Seas pose a direct threat to trade across the broader Indo-Pacific region.
In a warning of today’s geopolitical risks, Australia’s Defense Minister Richard Marles highlighted rising tension across Asia’s maritime superhighways at a conference in Sydney.
Open sea lanes and trade routes were crucial, he told high-ranking naval chiefs from the United States, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and the Pacific Islands.
As Beijing flexes its maritime muscles, Marles was blunt in his keynote speech this week, addressing the “challenges” facing democracies in an increasingly uncertain world.
“That work is challenging and in truth it is becoming increasingly risky. The biggest military build-up in the world today is China,” he told the Indo-Pacific conference.
“That it is happening without strategic reassurance means that for Australia and so many countries a response is demanded,” Marles stressed about regional security concerns.
Taiwan question [is] a red line that must not be crossed.
China’s Defense Ministry
Money-go-round:
- Australia will ramp up military spending along with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines as the United States strengthens its defense ties in the region.
- Canberra has agreed a deal with the US and the United Kingdom to build a nuclear-powered submarine fleet and to buy Japanese-made warships worth US$6.5 billion.
Delve deeper: The stakes are high. At least $3 trillion of trade traverses the South China Sea, with Beijing claiming 90% of the waterway as part of a nine-dash line of influence.
Between the lines: Yet that assertion was rejected by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2016. Since then, China has constructed military installations on barren islands.
Big picture: President Xi Jinping’s regime has also built the largest navy in the world. His goal is to unify the island of Taiwan by force if necessary and dominate the global sea lanes.
Bottom line: China’s Defense Ministry cautioned in October that “the Taiwan question was a red line that must not be crossed” after Taipei’s $1 billion defense deal with Washington.
China Factor comment: Still, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has voiced serious concerns about Beijing’s naval activity around Taiwan. A red line for Washington.