China’s Military Buildup is ‘Most Ambitious’ Since WWII, Australia Warns

Australia’s Defense Minister Richard Marles said Saturday that the arms build-up of Communist China, the “largest and most ambitious” since World War II, could lead to an arms race in the Indo-Pacific region.

“So it is critical that China’s neighbors do not see this buildup as a risk to them. Because without that reassurance, it is inevitable that countries will seek to upgrade their own military capabilities in response. Insecurity is what drives an arms race,” Marles said.

Marles was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue event in Singapore, which is considered to be Asia’s premier conference on defense.

The Defense Minister of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Wei Fenghe reportedly told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that if Taiwan declares independence, the CCP will “not hesitate to wage war at all costs. All three defense ministers have been attending the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Speaking in Singapore on Saturday, Secretary Austin accused the CCP of a “steady increase in provocative and destabilizing military activity near Taiwan.” “That includes the People’s Liberation Army aircraft flying near Taiwan in record numbers in recent months – and on a nearly daily basis,” Austin said.

Earlier in his speech, Austin offered other criticisms of Communist China’s recent actions. “In the East China Sea, the PRC’s expanding fishing fleet is sparking tensions with its neighbors. In the South China Sea, the PRC is using outposts on man-made islands bristling with advanced weaponry to advance its illegal maritime claims,” he said.

The secretary of defense said the U.S. did not want a war in the region. “We do not seek confrontation or conflict. And we do not seek a new Cold War, an Asian NATO, or a region split into hostile blocs,” he said.