By North America bureau chief Jade Macmillan for the ABC
Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles is calling for closer cooperation between Australia and the US to avoid what he describes as "a catastrophic failure of deterrence" in the Indo-Pacific.
Richard Marles says the US looks to Australia as a leader in the Pacific region and it wants to play a greater role. Photo: AFP
Marles used an address in Washington DC to argue China was engaging in the biggest military build-up since the end of Word War II.
"It is massive. It is completely changing the strategic circumstances of the Indo-Pacific and I think, beyond that, the world," he told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
He warned the alliance between Australia and the US could not afford to "stand still", adding that it would be operating in a much more challenging strategic environment in the years ahead.
"It will need to contribute to a more effective balance of military power, aimed at avoiding a catastrophic failure of deterrence," he said.
"Events in Europe underline the risk we face when one country's determined military build-up convinced its leader that the potential benefit of conflict was worth the risk."
Marles did not specifically reference Taiwan in his speech but said Russia's invasion of Ukraine could not be allowed to succeed.
"Only by ensuring such tactics fail can we deter their future employment, in Europe, the Indo-Pacific or elsewhere," he said.
Marles said the US looked to Australia as a leader in the region and that the Albanese government would do its share, including by taking more responsibility for its own security.
"We will make the investment necessary to increase the range and lethality of the Australian Defence Force so that it is able to hold potential adversary forces and infrastructure at risk further from Australia," he said.
Anthony Albanese's government will make the investment necessary to keep "potential adversary forces" at bay, Richard Marles says. Photo: AFP
AUKUS deal high on the agenda
Marles's visit to the US is his first as Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
He began the trip by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and is expected to meet US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin later this week.
Marles will also hold discussions with members of Congress on the AUKUS arrangement with the UK and the US, under which Australia will obtain nuclear-powered submarines.
He said that part of his focus in Washington was working out how to address a looming capability gap ahead of the AUKUS submarines coming into service.
"As we go through the process now of looking at which solution we pursue, we also want not only to determine that solution, but to work out is there any way in which that can be brought online much sooner than the 2040s?" he said after the speech.
"And to the extent any capability gap is there, what are the means by which we can close it?
"None of those questions have obvious answers. It's part of the work that we're doing right now."
The federal government will announce which type of submarines it plans on acquiring by early next year.
-ABC