The risk of Chinese military action against Australia has increased quite significantly according to the United States Studies Centre’s Dr John Lee. It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently announced a massive new defence spending package which will seek to purchase updated military weaponry such as hyper-sonic missiles, long range missiles, and unmanned vehicles. Dr Lee told Sky News host Sharri Markson, if Australia had to acquire new capabilities to counter China’s People’s Liberation Army, then “those would be it”. He said Australia does need to think carefully about the likelihood of military action from China as it has become a realistic possibility. “Xi Jinping seems to be in the mind set now of escalation, he doesn’t seem to have any other option. He doesn’t seem to be able to de-escalate for domestic political reasons”. “So those sorts of factors will just further increase the risk of some kind of conflict. “China has never really confronted this push back by multiple nations at the same time before. When the Communist Party faces disagreement, it intimidates and it coerces; this is precisely what it’s doing with nations.”