According to the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, China has “by far the largest military, coastguard, and maritime militia presence in the region — they are deploying strong surveillance, anti-air, anti-shipping, and strike forces onto the artificial islands they occupy — and they are actively intimidating other parties in the area”. Report author and former senior Australian Defence Department official Ross Babbage argues the Federal Government must take stronger action in response. “Our northern approaches are becoming much more questionable,” Professor Babbage told the ABC. “Ever since the Second World War we’ve assumed the United States and its close allies have really dominated the maritime environment — I’m afraid that’s really no longer the case.”
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