“This is happening without transparency about its strategic purpose.
“Some of the capabilities it is designing and deploying are very advanced, including an increasing number of nuclear weapons, new missiles, more powerful warships and nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed submarines.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Richard Marles.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The stark warning about China's strategic risks to Australia comes as the government tries to stabilize relations with Beijing and resume normal trade ties after China restricted imports of Australian wine, beef, barley, timber and coal.
Addressing the great power rivalry between the United States and China, Marles told the National Press Club: “This growing competition is creating an environment where the risk of miscalculation is more dire and the consequences more serious… Australia it no longer has the luxury of a ten-year window of strategic warning time for conflict.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the Chinese People's Liberation Army to be able to seize the autonomous island of Taiwan by 2027, a move that could spark a conflict between the world's two superpowers , the US and China.
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Marles also gave his clearest indication yet that the government plans to allow non-citizens to serve in the Australian Defense Force (ADF) as a way to increase personnel numbers.
Marles said the 600,000 New Zealanders living in Australia would be an “obvious place to start” for overseas recruits, as would AUKUS partners from Australia, the US and the UK.
The government was also looking at options to allow Pacific Islanders to serve with the ADF, he said.
Defense spending is expected to rise to 2.4% of gross domestic product by 2033-34 under the government's plan, up from 2.1% previously forecast.
The government is expected to spend $100 billion a year on defense by 2034, up from $50 billion today.
Amid fears that the massive investment in the AUKUS pact is crowding out funding for other military needs, the government plans to spend $53 billion to $63 billion over the next decade on submarines and related infrastructure, far more than on long-range strikes or space and cyber capabilities.
Reflecting the increased status of the navy, the government plans to allocate 38% of the defense budget to the maritime domain over the next decade, compared to 16% for land and 14% for the air
This compares with planned spending of 28 per cent for sea, 24 per cent for air and 20 per cent for land over a decade under the Morrison government's force structure plan to 2020.
Planned defense programs worth $22.5 billion over the next four years and $72.8 billion over a decade will be cut or delayed to free up money for other priorities.
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The government will save $3 billion by not expanding the number of joint strike fighters in the air force from 72 to 100, as well as scrapping plans to acquire two large naval support ships.
The government will also reallocate $1.4 billion in planned upgrades to defense facilities in Canberra to strengthen crucial northern bases and use autonomous ships instead of human minesweepers to identify underwater threats.
Bec Shrimpton, director of national security and defense strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, praised the government for making a “serious increase” in defense spending.
Opposition defense spokesman Andrew Hastie promised to spend more on defense than Labour, saying the Coalition would spend at least 2.4% of gross domestic product on defense if the Coalition returns to power.
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