Australia’s Wong warns regional conflict would be ‘catastrophic’

Bloomberg

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned about the risk of conflict in the Indo-Pacific as she prepares to meet her British counterpart for defense talks that will likely focus on regional issues including China’s military expansion.
Speaking on Tuesday before joining Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles for two days of annual bilateral talks with their British counterparts, Wong said that “if conflict were to break out in the Indo-Pacific, it would be catastrophic – for our people and our prosperity.“
“The cost would extend far beyond us and reach into every region,” she said in a speech at King’s College London. “So we must ensure that competition between major powers is managed responsibly.”
The meetings come as Australia, the UK and the US are expected to announce a design for Canberra’s new fleet of nuclear submarines early this year. The vessels are being delivered as part of the AUKUS security agreement the nations signed in 2021, largely to counter China’s growing military clout.
When asked about Wong’s remarks Wednesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said “China is committed to upholding regional peace and stability.”
She added that AUKUS “creates additional nuclear proliferation risks,” and called on the three nations behind it to “act in the interest of regional peace and stability.”
China’s ties with the US, Australia and some other Western nations have improved since Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden held their first in-person meeting at the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia in November.