‘Grim’ risk of nuclear arms race as US presses for defence budget boost

By Andrew Tillett – Financial Review

Defence Minister Richard Marles is warning that the world needs an updated arms control regime to curtail China’s nuclear build-up and put limits around new warfare technologies, as Donald Trump’s Pentagon chief personally urged him to boost Australia’s military spending.

In an address to the Indo-Pacific’s top security forum, Marles will reveal his fears about the risk of a new nuclear arms race, as belligerent countries like North Korea and Iran also seek to ramp up their stocks of the world’s deadliest weapons.