Australia and the Philippines said their militaries would conduct a joint maritime activity with Japan, New Zealand and the United States in the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, which covers one of Asia's most sensitive sites.
"The Maritime Cooperative Activity demonstrates our collective commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific," Australia's Department of Defense said in a statement on Saturday.
Navy ship HMAS Sydney and a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft will operate with the partner nations to boost "cooperation and interoperability between our armed forces", the statement added.
The joint exercise comes after a series of air and sea encounters between the Philippines and China, which have sparred over disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, one of Asia's most contested features, which has been occupied by China's coast guard for more than a decade.
On Wednesday, naval vessels from New Zealand and Australia sailed through the Taiwan Strait, part of the South China Sea, a move Australia's Department of Defense said showed the country's commitment to an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own, says it alone exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the strait. Both the U.S. and Taiwan say the strait - a major trade route through which about half of global container ships pass - is an international waterway.
Australia has "consistently pressed China on peace and stability in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait", Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday.
"We have welcomed the resumption of leader and military level dialogue between the U.S. and China," Wong said, according to a transcript.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, despite overlapping maritime claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, angering its neighbors.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
15 Comments
TaiwanIsNotChina
They should hold it right around the Second Thomas Shoal. The fact it is international waters tells us this is legal.
OssanAmerica
At some point we should stick it to China where it hurts and invite Taiwan to participate.
DanteKH
Political games are just politicians doing pi$$ing or manhood measurement contest.
All that with the Public money.
isabelle
If the public doesn't like what those politicians are doing with its money it will vote them out at the next election.
Sadly, the cause of all the regional aggression (and therefore the subsequent need for such drills) is the CCP - and the people of China cannot vote them out.
theFu
China is trying to get the Philippines to flinch over their EEZ and internationally recognized areas.
Have a few warships with aircraft coverage from a partner nation sitting less than an hour away from places that China is trying to bully into illegally. Make the Chinese fishing boats flinch and the Coast Guard run back to their own coast.
Make China waste the military resources and jets over "surface features" rather than dashing at Taiwan or Japan a few times every week.
The Taiwan strait is like many other straits in the world where ships go down the center line.
Peter14
Great to see all these friendly nations coming together to promote safety and security in Philippines EEZ waters. A counter to the chaos created and pursued by Chinese maritime elements.
ian
Did they conduct drills same time as China in the area? Good there were no troubles
quercetum
China is clever. They get these countries all bunched up wasting money militarizing while they win the economic war where the real battle is. Insert military strategist quote here _____.
The battle front is still with the chips, EV, AI, BRICS, non dollar international transactions and so on. The Chinese government support with the bottom up drive of Chinese entrepreneurs is a blazing bullet. Trump is aware of the dedollariization but says countries not using the dollar will be punished. Freedom is not for these countries.
The second battle front is in the global south where the majority of the population is. Here in this important geopolitical battleground, yet the US allies are missing in action and playing maritime activities in the Pacific. The US just keep deflecting and using its $1.6 billion Anti-China campaign with the latest on nuclear subs sinking in rivers 6 meters deep in Wuhan. An Australian submarine sank in the Todd river in Alice Springs. Who’s stupid enough to believe that? The US keeps procrastinating and putting off investing in Africa and Latin America.
Chinese products are flooding markets around the world yet the US keeps talking about missiles and getting Japan to buy more and pay more. China controls 75% of India’s smartphone market and 86% of Latin American EV market. What is the US and its allies doing?
The third battle front is still market access to the 1.4 billion market which is more than lucrative but not without hard competition. Volkswagon is closing down two factories in Germany (300,000 jobs) and its Audi factory in Belgium. It is investing in China but still has to close down factories in China.
Why waste your time and money in the Pacific? Why not subsidize your EV or AI industries? You need to have economic power for military power to be sustainable.
TaiwanIsNotChina
China is also wasting money building the largest navy in the world and a large air force and space program. Apparently they are also falling into the militarism trap.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Is there a submarine shipyard in Wuhan? Why yes, yes there is:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230321210542/https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/wuhan-sy.htm
quercetum
It is fake news from CNN. I’m glad you brought it up to show how they try to fool the American public.
Wuhan does not make nuclear-powered submarine. The shipyard in Wuchang only makes regular diesel-powered sub. Nuclear subs are made somewhere else. See my post on this before and offer your refutation.
Wuhan is located in Yangtze River. The river around the shipyard is shallow, about 6 meters. Do you know how tall a nuclear sub is? No sub can "sink" there at all.
That photo, besides the points above, shows that a sub sank? Can you not think for yourself?
That’s like propaganda saying a satellite photo of a warehouse is evidence of genocide.
How would a nuclear sub sink up the Colorado river? Look up the words depth and shallow waters.
TaiwanIsNotChina
I trust the link I posted which mentions nuclear subs over CCP disinformation but keep flailing.
quercetum
What might be happening is that nuclear subs are secretly being built in Wuhan and during a major construction accident, which the CPC is still making great efforts to conceal, radioactive materials spilled into the Yangtze River which flows into the Pacific Oceans. Many lives will be affected not to mention fish and marine food source. US officials are investigating the possibility of the coronavirus being tested in submerged ships. Live from Wuhan with more to follow.
Your pdf link says ships and submarines are built in Wuhan. It does not mention nuclear subs are manufactured in Wuhan.
Your pdf does not show a sub has sunk let alone a nuclear sub.
The CNN photo with a bunch of cranes presented as evidence is just that, cranes used in ship and submarine building. It does not show anything beyond that.
It is important to use one’s critical thinking skills to judge.
If I told you a nuclear sub sank off the pier in Memphis, Tennessee, why would you need a pdf that shows ships are built in Virginia to disprove that?
You wouldn’t if you can put two and two together.
TaiwanIsNotChina
I agree.
quercetum
It may be a hassle to think but using your mind is better than just accepting fake news at face value.
Your link does not even claim Wuhan is building nuclear subs. Back it up. Show us where it says so.
The US from time to time puts out fake news. There is a budget of $1.6 billion to put out these kind of news.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/china-cold-war-2669160202/
You have to produce something and not just pocket $1.6 billion dollars.
*The coronavirus was created by a lab in China
*China's economy is collapsing
*China commits genocide of Uyghurs (later turned to slave labor and then later cultural genocide)
*China only subsidizes Chinese EV companies
*Reports of cracks on Chinese aircraft carrier
*China's Three Gorges Dam is collapsing
*China lost control of its space station
Every single one of these is US propaganda.
Your link does not claim Wuhan is building nuclear subs. So back it up. Show us where it says so.