Cebu, Philippines – Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said Thursday that China’s military buildup was creating a “condition of pressure” in Southeast Asia, and urged allies and partners to deepen cooperation. Beijing deploys hundreds of coast guard, navy and other vessels to patrol disputed areas of the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. In July, Australia protested China’s test of a nuclear-capable missile in the South Pacific, calling the launch “destabilizing.” “We’re obviously seeing the biggest conventional military buildup that the world has seen since the end of the Second World War from China,” Marles told reporters Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian defense ministers in the Philippines.
China’s growing assertiveness and militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea have spurred Canberra, as well as Washington, to deepen defense cooperation with some Southeast Asian countries. Marles said Thursday that he met with the “Squad,” an informal defense and security group composed of Australia, Japan, the United States and the Philippines, where they committed to greater defense policy coordination. The Philippines, a close security partner of Australia, has been engaged in years of confrontations with China in the South China Sea.
China’s military and coast guard presence in contested areas of the critical waterway nearly doubled in September, Manila said earlier this month.
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