Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said the revelations were a “game-changer” in the debate over the Pacific and showed Australia had to take a leadership role to prevent the militarisation of the region. A base less than 2000 kilometres from the Australian coast would allow China to project military power into the Pacific Ocean. It would be the first overseas base China has established in the Pacific, and only its second in the world. The Chinese overtures, which the Chinese foreign ministry denied on Tuesday, triggered concerns across all sides of federal Parliament and appear certain to be reviewed by a peak foreign affairs committee examining Australian aid across the Indo-Pacific. While Mr Turnbull noted Vanuatu's denials of any formal base proposal from China, he made clear that Australia would not accept any such military plans from any foreign power in the Pacific. PM Malcolm Turnbull said Australia would view with any foreign military bases in the Pacific islands with “great concern”. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“The maintenance of peace and stability in the Pacific is of utmost importance to us, to Australia – it’s one of the key priorities of the foreign policy white paper,” he said. “We would view with great concern the establishment of any foreign military bases in those Pacific island countries and neighbours of ours." However, China’s foreign ministry responded to the report on Tuesday with spokesman Geng Shuang saying: “One word, fake news”. The Global Times newspaper reported that he had used English at the foreign ministry press conference, which is rare. “You should have already noticed that the foreign minister of Vanuatu clarified this when accepting media interview today,” he added.

Senator Wong said the countries of the Pacific wanted stability and prosperity rather than a competition for military power. “This is a potential game-changer for the region and for Australia,” Senator Wong said. Jacinda Ardern has vowed to oppose the militarisation of the Pacific. Credit:Kevin Stent “We should regard it as a wake-up call for Australia in terms of our position in the South Pacific and the leadership role we are expected to play and need to play in the region.” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said any military arrangement was a matter for the two sovereign nations but added she would "privately and publicly" push her government's position against military build-up in the region.

While the US and France have been Pacific powers for decades, the rise of China has triggered concerns among members of the Australian Parliament who have witnessed, during overseas visits, the mammoth flow of Chinese aid into the islands. The joint standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade has launched an inquiry into Australian aid in the Indo-Pacific, a forum that will hold public hearings later this year and is expected to canvass the growing influence of China. A Chinese construction group site in Port Vila. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The committee chairman, South Australian Liberal senator David Fawcett, said Australia needed to continue to invest in Vanuatu and other islands. “The presence of a major military power in the Pacific would significantly change the dynamics that have been in existence for six or seven decades that have created a rules-based order that has allowed prosperity and stability in the region,” Senator Fawcett said.

Another committee member, Labor MP Michael Danby, warned that the speed of construction of Chinese military bases in the South China Sea showed the urgency of dealing with any similar plans in the waters near Australia. “This is the nightmare scenario that Australia faced during the Second World War. I’m not saying it is a nightmare scenario now, but during the Second World War the fear was that the Japanese would dominate what were known as the New Hebrides and the islands to the east of Australia,” Mr Danby told Fairfax Media. Liberal Senator Jim Molan, a former major-general in the Australian Army, said there was a case for a greater Australian naval presence in the region but should avoid anything “dramatic” in response to the Vanuatu reports. “This is what you would expect China to be doing. Whether it is doing it now, or whether it will do it in the future, is the question,” Senator Molan said.

The concerns echoed a warning in January from the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, about the inflow of Chinese aid to win favour from the island nations. Senator Fierravanti-Wells said on Tuesday that the establishment of any foreign military base in the region would be of “grave concern”. Loading Vanuatu Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu on Tuesday denied a formal base proposal had been discussed, adding: “We are not interested in militarisation, we are just not interested in any sort of military base in our country.” Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she was not aware of a military offer being made by China to Vanuatu and the government of Vanuatu had said there was no such proposal.