Defence Minister Richard Marles says China’s provocation tactics are threatening region’s stability

Australia is expected to stand up against China in a strongly worded speech which will point out its flagrant ignoring of International laws and how its threatening to upend regional stability.

Australia does not have an “indelible hostility” toward China but has accused its leadership of threatening regional stability through its continued flagrant abuse of international laws.

In a strongly worded speech to be delivered at Asia’s premier security summit, Defence Minister Richard Marles has credited Australia’s prosperity as fuelled by China’s economic strength.

But he will tell the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue summit this weekend that China’s provocations were a serious escalation of tensions in the region and inconsistent with international laws.

Specifically, Mr Marles will voice his concerns about the two assaults by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) military on the Australian Defence Force’s navy this year, including the firing of flares at a Navy helicopter.

HMAS Hobart’s embarked MH-60R helicopter returns to the ship during flying operations while on a regional presence deployment during which it was attacked with flares fired by China’s airforce.

He said China’s continued refusal to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine contrary to the UN Charter, to which Beijing is a signatory, was also not instilling confidence.

“Confidence and indeed trust in Chinese leadership will be the single most important ingredient to the maintenance of the global rules based order and by extension it will be at the heart of building a stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region,” Mr Marles is expected to say to the summit, attended by hundreds of defence and other delegates from more than 50 nations.

“A stable and sustainable regional order will be impossible without a leading Chinese role. But equally it will also be impossible if China continues to pursue its strategic objectives without reference to the sovereign rights of its neighbours, or the obligations imposed by international law.”

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (R) leaves a meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. Picture: AFP

His very public admonishing of China comes just days after Beijing lifted suspensions on Australian beef imports in a sign of continued improving relations.

The beef industry had been trading about $1 billion worth of beef before Beijing launched a trade war in 2020, unofficially banning imports from numerous Aussie industries including coal, barley, cotton, timber, lobster and wine.

Mr Marles said China’s most recent behaviour toward Taiwan – with a military exercise rehearsing an invasion and widespread bombing of Taiwan – was also a concern and did not inspire confidence nor did its assaults on the Philippines’ navy in the South China Sea.

“The Australian Navy has also experienced recent unsafe and unprofessional behaviour by the PLA Navy and the PLA air force,” he will say. “I want to stress that the great bulk of ADF interaction with the PLA is safe and professional. But the size and speed of PLA development means that interaction is occurring much more frequently and activities that the ADF has conducted in the region for decades, safely and consistent with international law, are increasingly contested by the PLA.”