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China slams 'immature' Australia over $48 billion military move

Chinese state media has honed in on the Morrison government's 2022 Budget, branding its increased defence expenditure as naive and lacking maturity.

Defence's total budget grew again on Tuesday with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announcing a 3.1 per cent increase to $48 billion.

Canberra has repeatedly stressed the uncertainty Australia faces in the Indo-Pacific thanks to China's growing dominance and coercive tactics to justify its military expenditure, including a security pact with the US and UK that will bring nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has warned the chances of military conflict with what he has described as an increasingly-aggressive China have grown.

A solemn looking Peter Dutton in parliament.
Peter Dutton has been one of the driving forces behind Australia's ramped up military commitments. Source: AAP

But the Global Times, an infamous nationalistic tabloid controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, says Australia has chosen "a dangerous path" by pursuing further military expansion.

It said its latest defence declaration "exposed its naive ambition of weaponising itself to serve the US's strategy to contain China", according to Chinese experts.

"Canberra has drifted into the maelstrom of the US strategy by spending more and more manpower and material resources, which would bring greater risks to its own country and ultimately sacrifice Australia's national interests... revealing the immaturity and lack of autonomy in Australia's foreign and defence policy," reporter Xu Keyue explained.

Featured in the story was a cartoon by resident artist Liu Rui showing an American eagle directing a much smaller kangaroo wielding a baseball bat, yet another nod to Australia's so-called lapdog status.

The Global Times once again taunted Australia over its supposed desire to appease the US. Source: Global Times
The Global Times once again taunted Australia over its supposed desire to appease the US. Source: Global Times

While Australia's defence expenditure continues to grow, Yu Lei, chief research fellow at the research centre for Pacific island countries at Liaocheng University, played down the threat the increase would have on China, pointing out to the Global Times it was minuscule in comparison to China's expenditure and was coupled with an unfavourable economic outlook.

Mr Yu accused Australia of creating unnecessary risk in the Pacific despite recent revelations China has a draft security plan with the Solomon Islands which will bring China's military to Australia's doorstep.

He suggested Canberra was attempting to assert its authority over the region, despite Pacific nations welcoming Chinese cooperation.

However Mr Dutton described China as an "unsettling influence".

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