Australia warns of China's 'unprecedented influence'

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Photo: AP

In his first major foreign policy speech, Mr Morrison tried to strike a balance between alliance with the US and engagement with an increasingly expansionist China.

“We will certainly be dealing with a higher level of US-China strategic competition in the coming period,” Morrison said at the Asia Society think tank in Sydney. “It is important that rivalry does not become the defining factor in the US-China relationship.”

“As economic power shifts, it is not surprising that countries are seeking to play a greater strategic role in the region,” the Australian leader said. “China, in particular, is exerting unprecedented influence in the Indo-Pacific. China is the country where the balance of power is shifting the most, sometimes in ways that pose challenges to vital US interests.”

While acknowledging that the relationship with the US is vital to Australia's security, Mr Morrison insisted that the relationship with China still needed to be maintained in balance.

Also in his speech, Prime Minister Morrison affirmed that Australia will help Papua New Guinea (PNG) develop a naval base, marking Canberra's latest move to protect its interests in the Pacific against China's growing expansion.

Australia - a member of the Western intelligence alliance known as the "Five Eyes" and with a long-standing and close military relationship with Washington, is directly affected by one of the geopolitical hotspots of the 21st century, the South Pacific region.

This is an area of ​​small island nations, playing an important role in international shipping activities and a springboard for Beijing and Washington to show off their military and economic strength throughout the Pacific region./.