内容摘要："It is certainly stretching the Constitution and we have not seen a gift on this scale, or of this nature", says Professor Andrew Moran, a constitutional law expert at London Metropolitan University.

"It is certainly stretching the Constitution and we have not seen a gift on this scale, or of this nature", says Professor Andrew Moran, a constitutional law expert at London Metropolitan University.

He said Beijing needs to provide greater transparency and reassurance as it is the "fundamental issue" for the region.Meanwhile, the Philippines defence minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr has called China "absolutely irresponsible and reckless" in its actions in the South China Sea.

The ministers had separately addressed reporters on the sidelines of an Asian defence summit held in Singapore.China has yet to respond to either Marles or Teodoro.Organised by the think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Shangri-la Dialogue has traditionally been anchored by the US and China, which have been jostling for power in the region.

This year China has sent a lower-level delegation and scrapped its speech. In the absence of a strong Chinese presence, the dialogue has been dominated by criticism and questions of Beijing posed by the US and its allies.On Sunday morning, Marles asserted that "what we have seen from China is the single biggest increase in military capability and build up in conventional sense, by any country since the end of the Second World War".

It is not just the size of the military build-up that concerns other countries, he told reporters.

"It's the fact that it is happening without strategic reassurance. It's happening without a clear strategic intent on the part of China… what we want to see is strategic transparency and strategic reassurance be provided by China, and an understanding of why it is needed to have such an extraordinary military build-up."After growing up seeing the Guardian's Hay Festival supplement every year when her dad would buy the paper, this year she was in attendance as a Writer at Work.

"Publishing, it can feel like a closed door sometimes and it's hard to know who you need to speak to, what it is you actually need, how you get an agent," the 39-year-old said.She said if audiences at events like Hay Festival were not representative they may not know their books are not diverse enough, or "that they need to hear other voices".

Jade added the festival's effortsbringing in a younger audience and providing a space for all voices was "really making the difference".