China’s increasing military pressure is compelling Australia to expand joint defence exercises with its allies.
“The biggest military build-up in the world today is China,” Richard Marles, Australia’s Minister for Defence (pictured above), warned in an opening address at the 2025 Indo Pacific Conference in Sydney on 4 November.
He emphasized that Australia’s core national interest is its secure sea routes and that the Navy’s work to protect them in places like the South China Sea and East China Sea is “becoming increasingly risky.”
Marles added that because this build-up is happening “without strategic reassurance,” it means that for Australia and for so many countries, “a response is demanded.”
Analyzing Marles’ comments, Lin Ting-hui who is Deputy Secretary-General at the Taiwanese Society of International Law, said that it shows the Australian government appears to be intimidated by China’s military assertiveness, a concern highlighted by recent incidents between the two nations.
“When a Chinese fighter jet released flares close to an Australian surveillance plane in the South China Sea, it made them feel that China’s expansion is very aggressive,” Lin told The Epoch Times.
Lin was referring to an incident on 19 October when a Chinese aircraft conducted an “unsafe and unprofessional” manoeuvre, according to a later statement from the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Lin added that China’s expansionist ambitions are not limited to the South China Sea, noting its reach into the South Pacific is viewed as a profound threat by Australia, which is the key security partner for many Pacific Island states.
“Especially in places like Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Fiji, China is using ’security cooperation’ as a pretext to engage with these nations. This makes Australia feel a clear danger to its national defence,” Lin stated.
Richard Herr, an adjunct senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Tasmania, said that China’s naval build-up is “clearly a global concern” and undermines freedom of navigation.
“China has developed over the last couple of decades a blue-water navy that goes everywhere, so clearly the reach of its power makes people refocus on what their security interests are,” Herr said to The Epoch Times.
Herr pointed to China’s far-seas deployment in February/March saying it underscores why Australia feels compelled to strengthen its response to China’s expanding reach.
In February and March, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy conducted live-fire drills across the Indo-Pacific, including in waters between Australia and New Zealand, and completed its first-ever circumnavigation of Australia.
“It looked as if it was intended to be aggressive. It wasn’t just a test of the capacity of the ships to sail, but it was “we’re going to do it, and we’re not going to let you know about it, and that should worry you,’” Herr said.
At the conference, Marles stressed that the Australian Defence Force needs “impactful projection,” achieved through “a long-range, highly capable navy, both in terms of our surface fleet and our submarines.”
Herr viewed this as a necessary action against China’s “muscular approach” of intimidating others, noting that Australia is responding by enhancing the AUKUS agreement – a trilateral security pact with the United Kingdom and the USA aimed at safeguarding security in the Indo-Pacific.
“This means we’re not just engaged in coastal defence for Australia, but part of a larger capacity to present force, if necessary, closer to China if China makes that necessary,” Herr said.
On 5 November as part of the AUKUS plan, lead builder BAE Systems announced a pact with three other firms to install combat systems on the new SSN-AUKUS boats.
In addition to AUKUS, Herr added that Australia has developed closer security ties and military relationships with neighbouring states like Japan, India, and Indonesia, intended to curb Chinese porting deals in Southeast Asia.
“The arrangements need to be there to prevent any of us, including ourselves, but other states in our neighbourhood, from being bullied and monstered, as it were, by that Chinese capacity,” he said.
In a similar vein, Lin stated that Australia will strengthen relationships with like-minded countries and enhance allied defence capabilities by increasing joint military exercises.
“Because there are already organizations like the Indo-Pacific Quadrilateral partnership (Quad), the Malabar navy exercise, and ’shoulder-to-shoulder’ U.S.–Philippines joint military exercises, Australia will expand its relationships with other allies to strengthen alliances in response to China’s military pressure,” Lin predicted.
But all of these combative actions by China, Lin said, are designed to isolate Australia – one of America’s most important Indo-Pacific allies – and constrain Australia if a conflict erupts in the Taiwan Strait or South China Sea.
“If Australia expands its capabilities, it might break through China’s disruptive strategies, but if China’s capabilities continue to grow while Australia lags behind, it will be disrupted when trying to assist U.S. or Japanese forces,” Lin said.
However, Herr said China’s ongoing military harassment and its history of economic coercion create fears of new sanctions, which might push the Albanese government to further reduce its economic ties – a move that would place new strains on the bilateral relationship.
“The trading relationship with China isn’t a strictly commercial and friendly relationship, and that is certainly something we have to take into account,” Herr said.
“We’re trying to diversify our security and economic relationships to be less dependent on China. Hence, the closer relationship with East Asian democracies like Japan, Korea, and the Philippines, to make sure that close to home we have friends we can work with.”
While Marles talks big about what the Albanese government is doing and is planning to do, there is a huge gap between his rhetoric and reality.
Any military conflict with China is likely to be within the next few years as indicated very clearly by China’s president Xi Jinping who has instructed his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.
Despite this, our government avoids making any immediate tangible increase in defence funding and, in some cases, has even reduced our defence resources.
Albanese and Bowen would much rather spend our money on global warming/climate change – happy to waste it on farcical ‘saving the planet’ activities whilst doing practically nothing in the short term to defend our nation!
Instead, Albanese is content to spend what little money his government has allocated to defence, on nuclear submarines that may, or may not, be available in the mid-late 2030s, when it could well be too late.
And he also refuses to endorse nuclear energy even though the AUKUS agreement includes building nuclear submarines in Australia.
How exactly will we do that if we have no land-based nuclear power facilities?
Thanks to Jarvis Lim writing for The Epoch Times, Ezra Acayan/Getty Images for the lead image, The National Interest newsletter and CNA/Rafa Estrada for the other images, and Johannes Leak for his cartoon.
