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Beijing has issued a call to avoid "hyping up the 'China threat' narrative" after Australia's landmark defence review called out the superpower's historic military buildup.
The long-awaited Defence Strategic Review calls for Australia to spend more, make munitions domestically and improve its long-range missile capabilities and resources in the country's north, amid warnings about cyber warfare and "the rise of the 'missile age'".
It highlights "intense" competition between the United States and China in the Indo-Pacific and warns of the potential for conflict.
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"China's military build-up is now the largest and most ambitious of any country since the end of the Second World War," the review states.
"This has occurred alongside significant economic development, benefiting many countries in the Indo-Pacific, including Australia.
"This build-up is occurring without transparency or reassurance to the Indo-Pacific region of China's strategic intent."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Monday said China's defence policy was "defensive" and insisted the country was committed to peace in the Asia-Pacific and further afield.
"We do not pose a challenge to any country," she said.
"We hope certain countries will not use China as an excuse for military build-up and will refrain from hyping up the 'China threat' narrative."
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Even amid thawing diplomatic relations following a years-long trade war, China has been critical of any moves by Canberra to increase defensive capability.
That has been particularly true of the AUKUS agreement set to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, a move supported by the strategic review.
The government has also agreed in-principle to recommendations in the document to boost the defence workforce, improve efforts to quickly incorporate "disruptive new technologies" and deepen local diplomatic and defence ties.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, revealing implementing the plan would cost $19 billion over the forward estimates, said the country must seek to shape the future "rather than waiting for the future to shape us".
The review also calls for expanded cyber and space capabilities and for ships and guided missiles to be manufactured locally.
"We're vulnerable if we're just at the end of global supply chains," Albanese said.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said there would be major cuts to Army projects — a fleet of infantry fighting vehicles will be cut from 450 to 129 — to pay for new long-range air and sea weapons.
Those savings will fund the acceleration of the acquisition of US HIMARS rocket systems proving effective in the Ukraine war.
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While there is only a "remote possibility" of another power thinking about invading Australia, the defence review warns vital trade and supply routes could be more easily targeted and highlights cyber threats.
"The rise of the 'missile age' in modern warfare, crystallised by the proliferation of long-range precision strike weapons, has radically reduced Australia's geographic benefits, the comfort of distance and our qualitative regional capability edge," the authors write.
Opposition defence spokesperson Andrew Hastie criticised a seeming lack of urgency, while independent Senator Jacqui Lambie called for more information about where the money would come from.
"The mission is clear, we must respond to our strategic circumstances," Hastie said.
"Yet we haven't seen a strategy. There is no new money, and we're cannibalising capability."
Albanese said the review was the most significant since World War II.
