Jul 16, 2026 – 9.38amTokyo | The United States and its allies are “gradually losing” the contest against China’s campaign of military pressure and economic coercion in the Asia-Pacific, Australia’s ambassador to Japan has warned.Andrew Shearer, a former Office of National Intelligence boss in Canberra, told an international conference in Tokyo that Western democracies were struggling to respond to China’s military build-up and soft-power influence across South-East Asia and the Pacific Islands, despite better co-operation and defence spending.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles