Article

2025-06-01 Down Under

Australia asks China to explain 'extraordinary' military build-up

[BBC] Australia's defence minister Richard Marles has called on China to explain why it needs to have "such an extraordinary military build-up".

He said Beijing needs to provide greater transparency and reassurance as it is the "fundamental issue" for the region.

Meanwhile, the Philippines defence minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr has called China "absolutely irresponsible and reckless" in its actions in the South China Sea.

The ministers had separately addressed reporters on the sidelines of an Asian defence summit held in Singapore.

China has yet to respond to either Marles or Teodoro.

Organised by the think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Shangri-la Dialogue has traditionally been anchored by the US and China, which have been jostling for power in the region.

This year China has sent a lower-level delegation and scrapped its speech. In the absence of a strong Chinese presence, the dialogue has been dominated by criticism and questions of Beijing posed by the US and its allies.

On Sunday morning, Marles asserted that "what we have seen from China is the single biggest increase in military capability and build up in conventional sense, by any country since the end of the Second World War".

It is not just the size of the military build-up that concerns other countries, he told reporters.

Posted by Besoeker 2025-06-01 05:19|| || Front Page|| [153 views ] Top
File under: Commies

#1 Tanks to control the citizenry.

Posted by Super Hose 2025-06-01 09:38|| 2025-06-01 09:38|| Front Page Top

#2 tiānxià - 天下 - 'all under Heaven'

Posted by Elmerert Hupens2660 2025-06-01 14:55|| 2025-06-01 14:55|| Front Page Top

#3 Australia knows that China wants Australia to stay near the Antarctic and keep it's nose out of the South China Sea! No head scratching needed.

Posted by Phatch Sproing2490 2025-06-01 15:34|| 2025-06-01 15:34|| Front Page Top

#4 Confucius say, "Head on a swivel
Ensuring that empire not shrivel,
But if it should crack,
Xi'll have tanks at his back
For the showdown so war remain civil!"

Posted by Pancho Poodle8452 2025-06-01 17:37|| 2025-06-01 17:37|| Front Page Top

#5 Confucius wasn't into kiddie rhyming. Do better.

Posted by KBK 2025-06-01 20:25|| 2025-06-01 20:25|| Front Page Top

#6 But Rantburg has its own Pancho Poodle.

Posted by Bobby 2025-06-01 23:54|| 2025-06-01 23:54|| Front Page Top

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