Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison said Thursday the country will continue to advocate “very strongly” for the freedom of navigation through the South China Sea.
In recent years, tensions have increased over the territory, where China has been building military bases. The region is also claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
“Australia will continue to adopt a very consistent position,” Morrison said when asked if the country backed the position of the United States on the South China Sea.
On Monday, the US declared “most” of China’s maritime claims in the waters illegal. In a lengthy statement, secretary of state Mike Pompeo said that China’s “campaign of bullying to control” the disputed waters was wrong and that Beijing had “no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region”: “The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire”, Pompeo said.
On Wednesday, Pompeo said the US would support countries that believed China has violated their maritime claims in the waters.
Japan has also accused China of pushing its territorial claims under the cover of the coronavirus pandemic: China “is continuing to attempt to alter the status quo in the East China Sea and the South China Sea”, the country said Tuesday in its annual defence review. It added that China also appears to be responsible for “propaganda” and “disinformation” amid “social uncertainties and confusion” caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
