Top military general Mark Milley warns Australia over ‘aggressive’ China threat

The Pentagon’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff made a bold prediction about China’s next move in the Pacific, as he prepares to meet Australia’s defence leaders.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley. Picture: AFP

The head of the US military has warned of the increasingly “aggressive” threat posed to Australia, as China moves to establish a naval base on the Solomon Islands.

General Mark Milley, the Pentagon’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a visit to Indonesia that the People’s Liberation Army had significantly increased its “dangerous intercepts” over the past five years.

It comes as he prepares to meet with Indo-Pacific chiefs of defence in Australia this week to discuss China’s escalating military growth, according to the AP.

“The message is the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more and noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” Milley told the outlet.

General Mark Milley inspecting the troops in Jakarta. Picture: AFP

China’s increase in aerial intercepts and confrontations at sea created a similar rise in “unsafe” interactions as they come too close to the aircraft and vessels of allied countries in the Pacific, he added to the Financial Times.

The warning follows a US Department of Defence review of every interaction between China and the militaries of the US, Australia, Japan, and their allies in the region.

Milley added that the recent security agreement between Beijing and the Solomon Islands could be the first step in building a Chinese naval base in the South Pacific, which would not be tolerated by either the US or Australia.

“This is an area in which China is trying to do outreach for their own purposes. And again, this is concerning because China is not doing it just for benign reasons,” Milley told reporters on the trip.

“They’re trying to expand their influence throughout the region. And that has potential consequences that are not necessarily favourable to our allies and partners in the region.”

Milley’s meetings in Australia are set to continue discussions he and the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin had with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles at the Pentagon, in Washington DC.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

The three discussed China’s attack on “security, stability and prosperity” in the Indo-Pacific, with Mareles saying the “global rules-based order” is being put under a pressure not seen since the end of World War II.

“[China] seeks to shape the world around it in a way that we’ve not seen before,” Marles said, adding China is in the midst of a huge military build-up.

“That is a very significant phenomenon, which presents enormous challenges to both of us,” Mr Mareles said.

The defence meetings this week are also set to focus on Taiwan, which US military officials believe Beijing is building up to be ready for a 2027 invasion.

In addition to the aggressive intercepts of US and Australian military assets in the region, Mr Milley said China has also had incidents with Canada, the Philippines and Vietnam in its “statistically significant” increase of power projection.

In one incident, the Australian warship HMAS Parramatta was stalked by a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine, a warship and several aircraft.

HMAS Parramatta conducts a cooperative activity with Royal Malaysian Navy Ship KD Selangor. Picture: Supplied

Quoting a defence figure familiar with the interactions, ABC News reported that “formal challenges” occurred telling the Australian warship sailing through international waters that it had entered “China’s territorial waters”.

“The most intense activity occurred as HMAS Parramatta was in the East China Sea,” the official told the ABC, which reported the ANZAC-class frigate travelled to Vietnam, South Korea and Japan.

It was closely tracked by Chinese military assets including a Type 052C “Luyang II” guided-missile destroyer and a Type 093-A “Shang II” nuclear-powered attack submarine.

While the US has not released the full results of its review, three anonymous defence officials confirm to NBC News a recent interaction between the US destroyer USS Benfold on July 13 underscored the importance of crisis communications with China.

The vessel was carrying out a Freedom of Navigation Operation near the Paracel Islands, which are in international waters but are claimed and controlled as territorial waters by China.

“China has been on the rise, economically and militarily, for more than a decade. They’ve become more bold in the Pacific,” Mr Milley told the outlet.

A photograph taken from the International Space Station appears to show China building on the reef in the Paracel Islands. Picture: Supplied

Originally published as Top military general Mark Milley warns Australia over ‘aggressive’ China threat