The former director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency says he believes Australia should carry out freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.
Speaking at the Liberal Party's federal council in Sydney, General David Petraeus said Australia had found itself in the curious position whereby China was its number one trading partner and also its number one "security cause for concern".
General Petraeus said Australia and the US had to be firm and responsive toward China in the region, quoting former US President Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy of speaking softly and carrying a big stick.
He said this included Australia and its allies carrying out freedom of navigation operations in the disputed area.
"Absolutely that should be the case, and again, quietly done, you don't have to have brass bands and fanfare but it should be done, and I think if it can be done as a coalition, it says much more," he said.
General Petraeus described the Chinese Nine Dash Line as an "outrageous assertion that is completely without foundation in international law".
"The fact is the islands have been constructed...they're not reclaiming anything, they're building islands."
The former CIA chief also added Australia and its allies found themselves in "a generational struggle" in the Middle East.
"There is no silver bullet that you can shoot that will make this go away," he said.
He said coalition forces were not going to be able to drone strike their way out of the problem.
Of Donald Trump's presidency and its affects on the United States' foreign policy, General Petreaus said he believed there had been "more continuity than change".
However he said President Trump's decision to turn his back on the Paris Climate Agreement was a mistake, adding it had "enormous symbolic value".
"That is not something I would have welcomed or advised," he said.
