The Chinese ambassador to Canberra has urged Australia not to be “incited” by Nato’s support for demands by the US to raise defence spending sharply and instead should cooperate with Beijing to resolve regional disputes.
Analysts say the “unsolicited advice” is unlikely to sway Canberra and could backfire by reinforcing distrust of Beijing, ahead of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to China and amid an ongoing debate in Australia over its defence spending.
In an opinion article published in The Australian newspaper on June 30, ambassador Xiao Qian said that some countries attending events such as the G7 summit and the recent Nato meeting had “hyped up the so-called China threat narrative” to increase defence spending and “even incited Australia to follow suit”.
“Dramatically increasing military spending places a heavy fiscal burden on the countries involved, undermining their efforts to boost economies and improve livelihoods, and further straining a global economy already struggling with weak recovery,” he said.
Australia currently spends just over 2 per cent of its GDP on defence, but is under growing pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump to raise that to 3.5 per cent. Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have publicly pressed allies to boost spending, with Washington linking the issue to potential trade relief and deeper cooperation within Aukus, which comprises Australia, the UK and the US.
Ian Hall, an international relations professor at Griffith University, said Canberra had resisted calls from Washington to boost defence spending significantly.
