Australia: China conflict 'shouldn't be discounted'

"I don't think it (conflict) should be discounted," Dutton said in a television interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) when asked whether the prospects of a conflict over Taiwan are growing.

He added that China has been increasingly clear about its reunification ambitions with Taiwan.

Australia's diplomatic relations with China, its largest trading partner, have worsened since Canberra called for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus which was first reported in the Chinese city Wuhan, prompting trade reprisals from Beijing.