Defence Minister Richard Marles has warned that the U.S.-Australia alliance will need to step up its efforts to counteract Beijing in an increasingly “challenging strategic environment.”
The Australian deputy prime minister made the comments in a speech to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. during a four-day trip to the United States.
He spoke of the value of alliances—and in a veiled reference to recent comments by the Chinese Foreign Ministry—spoke against claims that partnerships were “Cold War relics unsuited to contemporary statecraft.”
Australia’s new Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles smiles during a swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Canberra on May 23, 2022. (Photo by Saeed Khan / AFP via Getty Images)
“In a more contested world, those countries that are able to pool their resources and combine their strengths will not only have a competitive advantage, they will be less vulnerable to coercive statecraft,” he said….