宿务：澳大利亚国防部长理查德·马尔斯周四（10月29日）表示，中国的军事建设正在东南亚制造“施压态势”，并敦促盟友和伙伴深化合作。
CEBU: Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Thursday (Oct 29) that China's military build-up was creating a "condition of pressure" in Southeast Asia, and urged allies and partners to deepen cooperation.
北京部署数百艘海警、海军及其他船只巡逻有争议的南海区域，尽管国际裁决认定其立场毫无法律依据，中国仍声称对南海几乎拥有全部主权。
Beijing deploys hundreds of coast guard, navy and other vessels to patrol disputed areas of the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that its position has no legal basis.
7月，澳大利亚就中国在南太平洋试射一枚具备核打击能力的导弹提出抗议，称该发射“破坏稳定”。
In July, Australia protested China's test of a nuclear-capable missile in the South Pacific, calling the launch "destabilising".
“我们显然看到，自第二次世界大战结束以来，中国正在进行世界上最大规模的常规军事建设，”马尔斯周四在菲律宾举行的东南亚防长会议间隙对记者表示。
"We're obviously seeing the biggest conventional military build-up that the world has seen since the end of the Second World War from China," Marles told reporters Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian defence ministers in the Philippines.
“中国没有解释为何这样做，所有这些都在制造施压态势。”他补充说，北京日益强硬的姿态“带来挑战”，澳大利亚依赖维护现有的基于规则的秩序。
"There's not an explanation from China as to why it's doing this, and all of that is creating the condition of pressure." Beijing's growing assertiveness was "providing challenges" for Canberra, he added, saying Australia relied on maintaining the existing rules-based order.
“我们需要确保我们对‘航行规则’的理解继续适用，因为对于像澳大利亚这样的中等强国来说，实际上是规则赋予了我们能动性，”他说。
"We need to be ensuring that how we understand the rules of the road continue to apply, because for a middle power like Australia, it is actually the rules which give us agency," he said.
中国日益强硬的姿态以及在南海人工岛的军事化，促使堪培拉和华盛顿都加深与一些东南亚国家的防务合作。
China's growing assertiveness and militarisation of artificial islands in the South China Sea have spurred Canberra, as well as Washington, to deepen defence cooperation with some Southeast Asian countries.
马尔斯周四表示，他与“小分队”举行了会晤，这是一个由澳大利亚、日本、美国和菲律宾组成的非正式防务和安全小组，双方承诺加强防务政策协调。
Marles said on Thursday that he met with the "Squad", an informal defence and security group composed of Australia, Japan, the United States and the Philippines, where they committed to greater defence policy coordination.
“我认为，该地区面临的挑战和承受的压力，这四个国家都非常清楚，”他说。
"I think the challenges that are being faced in this part of the world and the pressures that are being experienced are well understood by all four countries," he said.
“现在是加倍支持朋友、加倍支持邻国、更紧密地合作以维护我们共同安全的时候了，”他补充道。
"Now is a time to double down on friends and to double down on neighbours and to be working more closely together to provide for our collective security," he added.
菲律宾是澳大利亚的亲密安全伙伴，多年来一直在南海与中国发生对峙。
The Philippines, a close security partner of Australia, has been engaged in years of confrontations with China in the South China Sea.
马尼拉本月早些时候表示，中国在争议海域的军事和海警力量部署在9月份几乎翻了一倍。
China's military and coast guard presence in contested areas of the critical waterway nearly doubled in September, Manila said earlier this month.