Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles called on China to explain why “such an extraordinary military accumulation” is needed.
He said Beijing needs to provide greater transparency and reassurance because it is a “basic issue” in the region.
Meanwhile, Philippine Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr called China “absolutely irresponsible and reckless” in his operations in the South China Sea.
Ministers delivered speeches to reporters separately at the Asian Defense Summit held in Singapore.
China has not responded to Mars or Tiodoro.
The Shangri-La dialogue organized by the think tank International Strategic Institute has traditionally been anchored by the United States and China, and these dialogues have been fighting for power in the region.
This year, China sent a low-level delegation and scrapped the speech. In the absence of a powerful China, dialogue is dominated by criticism and issues raised by the United States and its allies.
On Sunday morning, Mars asserted: “What we see from China is the largest increase in military capacity and in the traditional sense any country has been established since the end of World War II.”
He told reporters that it is not only the scale of military accumulation that has to do with other countries.
“The fact is that it is happening, without strategic reassurance. It is happening with China’s clear strategic intentions…what we want to see is China’s strategic transparency and strategic assurance, and an understanding of why it needs to have such extraordinary military accumulation needs.”
He took Australia as an example, taking this transparency as an example, noting that Canberra has exposed its defense strategy and defense review and “fully clear” to show that it is security against Australia and Asia when they build defenses.
“Australia therefore provides complete strategic clarity and assurance to our neighbors, the region, the world. That’s what we want to see,” he said.
Answer a question Highly strict Chinese military exercises Mars was conducted in February near waters in Australia and New Zealand, but Mars said that while it was “destructive and we thought it could have been done in a better way”, ultimately “China is acting in accordance with international law”.
“Guide the light, here the bedrock needs to be followed by international law. That’s what we’ve been talking about, is a rule-based command.”
Mars was also asked about Hergs’ call for Indo-Pacific partners to increase defense spending to increase the bastion of threat to China.
“We are actually taking a step down this road … We understand, we are working on it,” Mars said. President Donald Trump has called on Australia to increase its spending to 3%, but Canberra has not yet publicly pledged that number.
Mars added that part of the spending would fall under the convention between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States to establish a number of nuclear-powered submarines.
He said the projects under the agreement were “on the right track” and he was “very optimistic” about progress, including more visits to U.S. submarines and spinning through naval bases in Perth.
Philippine Defense Minister Tiodoro said in another interview with BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner that China is “absolutely irresponsible and reckless, and that the world cannot tolerate this in the Southern China Sea, most if not all (if not all) of the world”.
The two countries have repeatedly competed for competitive claims in the South China Sea, and the Philippines complained about the aggressiveness and violent tactics of the Chinese Coast Guard.
He responded to the call for the preservation of the international order, saying that “the gains of many defense ministers are that Europe and the United States must continue to lead.”
“That’s the call of the Philippines. This is Lithuania, Latvia, smaller countries, who have a way of life that values human freedom and dignity.”
“And, we don’t want to look at our shoulders in a deep state or be afraid of what we say,” he said.
On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Warn of China’s “imminent” threat to Taiwan And accused Beijing of becoming a “hegemonic force” in the region.
China has vigorously attacked Heggs in two separate statements, the latest published on the Foreign Ministry’s website earlier Sunday.
It said Heggs “had violated China with defamatory allegations, mistakenly calling China a “threat.”
“No country in the world should be called a hegemonic force except the United States itself, and it is also the main factor in undermining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Early in the Defense Summit, French President Emmanuel Macron sells Europe becomes a new ally in Asia.
China also responded to Macron, who compared Taiwan’s defense with Ukraine’s defense and said it was “unacceptable” because “the Taiwan issue is entirely a love affair with China.”
China claims Taiwan is an autonomous island and its territory, and has not ruled out the territory to eventually “reunited” with it using force.
