Australia will spend another $270 billion on defence over the next decade to protect against China's rise and the fallout from the coronavirus. The country will for the first time be armed with long-range missiles as it adopts a more aggressive footing. Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants the Australian Defence Force to firmly focus its efforts on the Indo-Pacific.
Mr Morrison says Australia will never surrender its sovereignty or seek to intimidate its neighbours.
But the country's prosperity and security are under increasing strain.
The prime minister says strategic competition between China and the United States is creating "a lot of tension in the cord and a lot of miscalculation".
Other regional tensions, such as border skirmishes between China and India and China's intransigence over the South China Sea, have worsened in recent years...MORE
