Australia's military support of the US in the Asia Pacific against China is typical of regional concern

Vietnam is continuing to turn away from its previous reliance upon Russia by seeking to diversify its defence acquisitions from foreign sources, a trend likely to increase in the light of sanctions against Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine, a growing perception that Western equipment is superior, and discomfort with Russian rapprochement with China.

Of the larger Asia Pacific powers, besides the US, Japan will double annual defence spending by 2027 to $80-$90 billion.

Japan's need to bolster its defence included Taiwan being close to Japan's Okinawa archipelago, Japan's vulnerabilities being underscored by Chinese missiles landing in Japan's exclusive economic zone near Taiwan, Chinese transgressions into the waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, and North Korea firing ballistic missiles over Japanese territory.

With Japan agreeing to enhance the presence and the quality of US defence forces stationed on Japanese territory, it also seeks greater cooperation with countries like Australia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

India also raised its defence budget for 2023-24 to $72.6 billion amid tensions with China, including an aim to add more fighter jets and roads along its tense border with China.

While Laxman Behera, a defence expert at government-funded Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said the hike in the defence budget was "reasonable but not sufficient" given requirements for military modernisation, India planned to spend $3 billion for naval fleet construction and $7 billion for air force procurements including more aircraft.

With large numbers of India's armed forces (1.38 million people) deployed along borders with nuclear-armed rivals China and Pakistan, India and China share a 3,500-kilometre (2,100-mile) frontier that has been disputed since the 1950s with a 2020 clash killing 24 soldiers in Ladakh, in the western Himalayas.

As usual, in times of growing tension, individual nations will side with certain powers as they observe the behaviour and policies of each.

Support for the US is rising at the expense of authoritarian China despite the latter's growing economic importance.

According to the 2023 annual survey by Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, polling around 1,300 people across Southeast Asia, only 5.3 per cent thought China could provide leadership to maintain the rules-based order and uphold international law (13.6 per cent 2022) compared to 27.1 per cent for the US (36.6 per cent 2022).

Around half (49.8 per cent) indicated they had either "little confidence" or "no confidence" in China to "do the right thing" to contribute to global peace, security, prosperity and governance, with disapproval highest in Vietnam 78.7 per cent and the Philippines 62.7 per cent.

When asked if the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was forced to choose between the US and China, 61.1 per cent chose the US compared to 38.8 per cent China (57 per cent and 43 per cent 2022).

Japan maintained its lead as the region's most trusted power at 54.5 per cent, with the US second (54.2 per cent), followed by the European Union (51 per cent), China (29.5 per cent), and India (25.7 per cent).

Australia is not acting as a garrison for the US, but playing its part within a regional effort to counter the influence of authoritarian China where most nations prefer the current status quo despite any real or perceived grievances they hold against US or Western influence.