China accused Australia and the United States Wednesday of reviving Cold War policies with their enhanced security arrangement that will deploy U.S. Marines in Australian territory.

In a briefing in Beijing, Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yangsheng said that in a quest to counterbalance the alleged increasing influence of China in the Asia-Pacific region, Canberra and Washington were returning to the bad old days.

"Military alliances were created by history. We think that all moves to strengthen and expand military alliances are a product of Cold War thinking that run counter to the era's trend of peace, development and cooperation," Geng was reported by the Associated Press as saying.

Earlier, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd declared that the U.S. security deal follows from previous arrangements between the two nations, stressing too that the pact was not "snap-frozen in time."

"We are not going to have our national security policy dictated by any other external power. That's a sovereign matter for Australia," Rudd was quoted by Reuters as saying in responding to Chinese criticism.

Rudd added that while China is an important trade ally of Australia, Canberra will not conform with Beijing's wishes of diminishing U.S. influence in the East Asian region, let alone scrapping military alliances that countries in the area have with America.

China's accelerated buildup of its military might spawned nervousness within the region and encouraged many nations to seek alliance with the United States, experts said.

Australia's deal with America will allow the deployment of some 2,500 U.S. Marines from 2016 to 2017, a prospect that clearly irritated Beijing, which insisted that military posturing is a thing of the past.

While voicing opposition to increased U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific, Geng said China looks forward to the scheduled meeting between People's Liberation Army deputy chief Gen. Ma Xiaotian and U.S. Defence Undersecretary Michele Flournoy.

This despite recent reports, according to AP, that a number of Chinese officials are calling for firm resistance to new U.S. advances in the regions, termed by experts as America's containment tactic, though by use of active diplomatic channels.