Paul Keating's meeting with China's Foreign Minister features on Chinese State Television

Defence Minister Richard Marles has sought to downplay a meeting between former prime minister Paul Keating and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, defending the AUKUS submarine deal as the nation’s “single most important military platform”.

Mr Marles said there was nothing remarkable about the meeting last week, arguing that Mr Keating is a “honoured former prime minister but he doesn't speak for the government today”.

Mr Keating has been a public critic of the AUKUS security pact, describing it as the “worst deal in history”.

“We're not really concerned about the meeting with Paul Keating,” he told the ABC’s Insiders.

“We're not because Paul Keating doesn't speak for the Australian government.

“That's the fundamental point here and we're not going to stop people from meeting former leaders if that's what they want to do,” he said.

“The meeting that mattered was with our Foreign Minister and in that meeting, the process of stabilising our relationship with China continued.

“Can I make the point in relation to those who speak about AUKUS?

“The biggest gamble of all would be to not seek to acquire a capable, highly capable, long-range submarine capability for the future.

 “This is the single most important military platform we have. We need it in the future and walking down the path of nuclear propulsion is the only way we get it.”