Western democracies cannot be complacent about guarding the international rules-based order, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne has warned, as she vowed to continue to challenge China on its human rights abuses.

Declaring Australia's alliance with the United States as "more important to us than ever", Senator Payne said the nation's long-term interests would depend on "taking a firm stand", even if it displeased other countries, including an "increasingly assertive and influential China".

Foreign Minister Marise Payne says Australia will work with with like-minded nations to safeguard against state actors who "misuse cyberspace as a means of repression, control and instability". Credit:AP

In a major foreign policy speech to the United States Study Centre in Sydney on Tuesday night, Senator Payne also said Australia would continue to work with like-minded nations to safeguard against state actors who "misuse cyberspace as a means of repression, control and instability".

"A range of actors, old and new, are trying to influence and interfere with the international environment at a time of unparalleled technological advances," Senator Payne said.