Richard Marles, Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister has said China is Australia’s “biggest security anxiety” as Beijing expands its influence among the Pacific island nations.
Marles warned that China would “maintain an interest” in the Pacific, even though Beijing was forced to shelve a sweeping security and economic deal with 10 nations in the region.
“We can expect China will maintain an interest in the Pacific, and really the point here is we need to be focusing on our own relationships in the Pacific,” he told Sky News Australia’s Pete Stefanovic.
“Unlike the former [Coalition] government, we’re actually going to do the work, and I believe if we do the work, we will be the natural partner of choice for the countries in the Pacific.”…