"The big strategic goal is a Chinese-led international order, a Chinese century, where the US strategic primacy has ended. The US can basically move back to the Western Hemisphere and focus on itself, which is what he was saying," Malcom Davis, China expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said.
The United States, in a rare mention of nuclear weapons, "reaffirmed its steadfast alliance commitments to Japan and the ROK backed by the full range of U.S. capabilities, including nuclear."
"To be clear: we do not seek conflict or confrontation," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Shangri-La Dialogue. "But we will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion."
"Doing our part to fulfill the shared responsibility all of us have to preserve peace and security," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. "And making it crystal clear that when it comes to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force: be it in Taiwan, the South China Sea, the East China Sea or elsewhere, the risk of conflict will always far outweigh any potential reward."