The backbencher's intervention will rattle the government,which istrying to balance its strategic partnership with the United States against China's status as Australia's largest two-way trading partner.

The militarisation of man-made islands in the South China Sea,a possible deal to station Chinese troops and store weapons at a naval base in Cambodia,and Beijing's strategy ofloading Pacific nations with billions of dollars of debt have alarmed hawkish defence officials and policymakers in Australia,Asia and the US.

In a separate interview,Mr Hastie stressed his criticism was not directed at Chinese citizens.

"Our argument is not with the Chinese people themselves. We have many,many things in common,and we have many Chinese Australians here making a really invaluable contribution to our social fabric,"Mr Hastie said.

He added his"heart is pounding for the protesters"in Hong Kong amid growing fears the Chinese military may be deployed to halt a huge pro-democracy movement.

Mr Hastie praised the Coalition for banning Chinese technology giant Huawei from the 5G network and passing foreign interference and espionage laws but said more must be done.

"It is impossible to forsake the United States,our closest security and investment partner. It is also impossible to disengage from China,our largest trading partner,"Mr Hastie said.

"This is the central point:almost every strategic and economic question facing Australia in the coming decades will be refracted through the geopolitical competition of the US and the People's Republic of China.

"The next decade will test our democratic values,our economy,our alliances and our security like no other time in Australian history."

Mr Hastie stressed Australia must take Xi Jinping at his word when the Chinese President flagged Beijing's rise was a project requiring the"tireless struggle"of 10 generations.

"With history as our guide,we have no reason to doubt President Xi,"Mr Hastie said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrisonthis week ruled out the construction of US missile bases in Australia,saying no request was made during high-level defence and diplomatic talks between the two countries at the weekend. China responded angrily to the reports and threatened counter-measures.

However US Defence Secretary Mark Esper told media on Wednesday a request may not be made for several years.

"It's going to take,again,a few years to actually have some type of initial operational-capable missiles ... to be able to deploy,"he said.

"Somehow this got spun along to a point where I guess some people thought we'd deploy missiles next week,or something like that."