The Chinese government has expressed "dissatisfaction" with Australia's "negative" remarks on the South China Sea and its military development.
"We hope the Australian side can correctly and positively view China's development and strategic intent," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Thursday.
Asked if China wanted to see an arms race in the region, Hua said: "The answer to that is definitely no".
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had earlier in the day unveiled an ambitious new defence blueprint, with a warning that half the world's submarines and advanced combat aircraft will be operating in the Indo-Pacific region in the next two decades.
"We would be concerned if the competition for influence and the growth in military capability were to lead to instability and threaten Australia's interests, whether in the South China Sea, the Korean peninsula or further afield," he said as he launched the new Defence White Paper.
The paper outlines a series of factors which will shape Australia's strategic outlook out to 2035, especially the relationship between China and the US which will remain the pre-eminent global power over that period.
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