Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy Commander Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong (沈金龍) on Thursday told Australian Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Tim Barrett that Australia’s actions on the South China Sea run counter to peace and stability in the disputed waterway.
Australia, a close ally of the US, has repeatedly expressed concern over the disputed South China Sea, where China has built artificial islands, some of which are equipped with runways, surface-to-air missiles and radar systems.
The country has drawn criticism from China for running surveillance flights over the South China Sea and supporting US freedom of navigation exercises there.
However, Australia has not conducted a unilateral freedom of navigation voyage of its own.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway traversed by US$3 trillion worth of goods each year where Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei have overlapping claims.
Meeting in Beijing, Shen told Barrett that the situation in the South China Sea was “steady and good,” the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday.
“However, in the last year, the Australian military’s series of actions in the South China Sea have run counter to the general trend of peace and stability,” the ministry cited Shen as saying, without mentioning any specific examples.
“This does not accord with the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries nor the atmosphere of the forward steps in cooperation in all areas between the two countries,” Shen was cited as saying. “This also is not beneficial to the overall picture of regional peace and stability.”
Over the past two weeks, China and Australia have also traded barbs over an allegation by Canberra that Beijing had sought to interfere in Australian politics, with China summoning Australia’s ambassador last week.
China has continued to install high-frequency radar and other facilities that can be used for military purposes on its artificial islands in the South China Sea, a US think tank said on Thursday.
In August, Australia, Japan and the US urged Southeast Asian countries and China to ensure that a South China Sea code of conduct they have committed to draw up would be legally binding and said that they strongly opposed “coercive unilateral actions.”
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