ANKARA

Australia has warned that China's "nuclear ambitions" and Chinese military build-up have created "daunting" and "grim" challenges across the Asia-Pacific region, media reports said Sunday.

Deputy Prime Minister and defense chief Richard Marles, in remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, urged Asian Pacific countries to increase defense spending to levels similar to the 5% of GDP that NATO members are pledging to spend, the SBS News broadcaster reported.

His comments came after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said at the annual security summit that the Asian region would remain an American strategic priority, due to what he described as rapidly developing threats from China.

Marles said Australia's defense spending has increased as the region responds to the "risk of Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons."

"We are invested in shaping the geo-strategic environment. China’s decision to pursue rapid nuclear modernization and expansion, which aims, in part, to reach parity with or surpass the United States, is another reason the future of strategic arms control must be revitalized," SBS News quoted Marles.

*Writing by Aamir Latif