U.S. Troop Expansion Needed to Avoid ‘Catastrophic Failure’ in Indo-Pacific, Says Aussie Defense Minister

Defense Minister Richard Marles has warned that the U.S.-Australia alliance will need to step up its efforts to counteract Beijing in an increasingly “challenging strategic environment.” The Australian deputy prime minister made the comments in a speech to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. during a four-day trip to the United States. He spoke of the value of alliances—and in a veiled reference to recent comments by the Chinese Foreign Ministry—spoke against claims that partnerships were “Cold War relics unsuited to contemporary statecraft.” – “In a more contested world, those countries that are able to pool…