Defence Minister Peter Dutton has defended his strong rhetoric against China, saying Australia cannot pretend the country was like it was a decade ago.
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Mr Dutton has likened China's military build up to Nazi Germany in the 1930s, just hours after he was accused of provoking the country for political gains.
"The threats of violence in Taiwan, in Hong Kong, what we're seeing now potentially with people who have reported to go missing ... we shouldn't shy away from it or pretend that it's not reality," he said.
"There's a great need for people to be realistic about the situation. My job as the defence minister is to make sure that we adequately deter any sort of aggression.
"I'm not going to be dishonest about what I see and the intelligence (reports) presented to me."
The latest comments come against a backdrop of strengthened rhetoric from Australia's defence minister against China, specifically in relation to Taiwan.
Mr Dutton said it was "inconceivable" Australia would not send troops to support a US military intervention in Taiwan.
China's foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has labelled Mr Dutton's "sensational and astonishing statements on China-related issues" as a cold war mentality.
"He wouldn't scruple to hijack Australia onto the chariot in confrontation with China," he said at a press conference in China.
Labor's foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong has accused the Morrison government of politicising potential military action in Taiwan for electoral gain, saying it is "amping up the prospect of war".
"(It) is the most dangerous election tactic in Australian history ... by irresponsible politicians who are desperate to hang on to power at any cost," she told the National Security College in Canberra on Tuesday.
"Mr Dutton does Australians and the Taiwanese no favours by amplifying Beijing's fatalism."
Senator Wong said Australia needed to return to a "deliberate position of strategic ambiguity" with regards to Taiwan in the face of a more aggressive China and called for a return to a more traditionalist approach.
"The greatest risk to peace, stability and prosperity in our region is the risk of conflict in Taiwan," she said.
"The consequences of a kinetic conflict over Taiwan, with the potential for escalation, would be catastrophic for humanity."
Labor's foreign policy approach would be based on three pillars: Australia's trustworthiness on the international stage; strategic partnerships with other countries, specifically in southeast Asia and the Pacific region; and military capability.
The race for influence and power in the Indo-Pacific was grounded in Australia listening to the concerns raised by its Pacific neighbours, specifically on climate change, Senator Wong said.
"It's clear that a credible Pacific step up will only happen under ... a government that recognises the existential, national security and economic threat climate change presents to all, particularly our Pacific friends," she said.
Australian Associated Press
