China military build-up pressures SE Asia, Marles says

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said Thursday that China's military build-up was creating a "condition of pressure" in Southeast Asia and urged allies and partners to work more closely together.

Marles spoke on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian defence ministers in the Philippines. He said China was carrying out what he described as the biggest conventional military build-up since the end of the Second World War and said Beijing had not explained why.

Beijing deploys coast guard, navy and other vessels to patrol disputed areas of the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that its position has no legal basis.

Marles said China's growing assertiveness was creating challenges for Canberra, which he said relied on the existing rules-based order. He said Australia, Japan, the United States and the Philippines had met as the informal "Squad" defence and security grouping and committed to greater defence policy coordination.

The Philippines, a close Australian security partner, has had years of confrontations with China in the South China Sea. Manila said earlier this month that China's military and coast guard presence in contested areas of the waterway nearly doubled in September.