Fiji, Oct. 2 -- A formal Australian military alliance designed to repel China will be left "deliberately not prescriptive" about what will happen in the event of a conflict.

The Ocean of Peace Alliance and the Vuvale Union, signed in July, commit Australia and Fiji to consider an armed attack on one party as an attack on both.

The alliance is Australia's fourth formal treaty, after the U.S, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and Fiji's first.

A mutual defence article within the agreement binds the parties to "act to meet the common danger" of military assaults, but a panel of MPs and senators examining its nuts and bolts heard those details are vague by design.

"The Ocean of Peace Alliance is deliberately not prescriptive about what ac...