Australia boosts South China Sea presence



MANILA, Philippines — Australia shares the United States' concern on Beijing's militarization activities in the disputed South China Sea.

According to a report from Wall Street Journal, Australia has increased its naval presence in the contested waters in response to concerns about regional stability.

Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne, in a parliamentary hearing, had expressed Canberra's unease on Beijing's rising military capabilities in the region.

Payne told the Australian Senate that the country has stepped up its naval presence in the South China Sea in the last 18 months despite not joining freedom of navigations operations of the United States, according to WSJ reporter Rob Taylor.

Australia's heightened presence in the disputed waters is part of a "strong focus on security and stability in the Indo-Pacific."

Lyle Morris, senior policy analyst at Rand Corporation, noted that Australia has been conducting presence operations and joint training for almost two years.

"They just aren't doing (freedom of navigation operations) within 12 (nautical miles) of disputed features. Australia deserves more credit for this," Morris said on Twitter.

In a meeting last week, US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expressed serious concerns about the situation in the South China Sea.

The two leaders called on all parties to "exercise restraint and resolve disputes peacefully based on international law."

Trump also expressed his gratitude to his Australian counterpart for Canberra's support to US freedom of navigation operations.

Meanwhile, Beijing has implemented a "diplomatic deep freeze" over Canberra following Turnbull's foreign interference laws and naval challenges in the South China Sea, The Australian reported.

China reportedly stalled ministerial visits and deferred trips of Turnbull and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Turnbull is supposed to visit Beijing this month but has not been followed up while Bishop's scheduled Chinese trip has yet to be decided after the Chinese congress finishes, the report said.

Senior government sources of The Australian, however, denied that senior ministerial trips have been affected by Turnbull's South China Sea policy.

Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times had labeled Australia as an "anti-China pioneer" on the issue of foreign interference among Western nations.
  (Philstar)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gov’t ship, plane now patrolling PH Rise

Image
The Philippine Coast Guard has deployed a ship and a plane to patrol the Philippine Rise, a resource-rich part of Philippine territory that some experts feared was also being encroached by China. The Coast Guard, according to spokesperson Capt. Armand Balilo, on Saturday sent an Islander aircraft, a propeller-driven plane, and the BRP Suluan, a multi-role response vessel, to Philippine Rise (formerly Benham Rise) to conduct patrols in the area in tandem.   ‘Eyes’   Balilo said the ship and plane left Legazpi City in Albay province for the vast underwater plateau that is part of Philippine territory off the coast of Aurora province. The Coast Guard vessels, said Balilo, “would serve as our ‘eyes’ in the area as part of our maritime patrols.” The deployment came after Coast Guard chief, Rear Admiral Elson Hermogino, received instructions from President Duterte for the Coast Guard to activate patrols in Philippine Rise, which is believed to be teeming with natural gas, oil an
Read more

Philippine’s seventh Parola-class patrol vessel arrives home

Image
                                                    Seventh MRRV of the PCG (photo : MaxDefense) The Philippine Coast Guard has received its seventh Parola-class patrol vessel. Platform has significantly bolstered service’s constabulary capabilities The Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG’s) seventh multirole response vessel (MRRV) has arrived in the country. Vessel movement analysis by Jane’s via the IHS Markit’s AISLive portal on 2 March indicates that the platform, which will be in service as BRP Cape San Agustin with pennant number 4408, departed Tokyo Bay on 23 February, and has now arrived in Manila Bay. Cape San Agustin joins six existing MRRVs that were commissioned by the PCG between October 2016 and November 2017. The vessels were ordered under a government programme known as the Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project for the PCG (Phase II). (JANES)
Read more

Palace, expert spar over planned ‘joint exploration’ with China in undisputed area

Image
                                    MANILA, Philippines — Is a joint exploration between Filipino and Chinese companies in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, including in areas where China never laid claim to, legal? Malacañang earlier said areas under service contracts (SC) 57 and 72 are being considered for possible joint exploration with a company and not the Chinese government. However, a maritime law expert warned that such a venture would elevate the Chinese firm’s status from mere sub-contractor to a “co-owner.” Formerly called Geophysical Survey and Exploration Contract 101, the 880,000-hectare SC 72 is at the Recto Bank, which is located west of Palawan and southwest of the Malampaya gas field. In late 2014, the Department of Energy suspended exploration in the bank, which is in waters also claimed by China, as the government pursued an arbitration case against the Asian power. Meanwhile, SC 57 is a petroleum exploration project awarded to Philippine Nati
Read more