Australia: Beijing’s claims in South China Sea ‘illegal’
PRESSURE BUILDS Canberra sends formal declaration to UN, joins US in questioning China’s goals
SYDNEY/ BEIJING: Australia has rejected Beijing’s territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea in a formal declaration to the United Nations, aligning itself closely with Washington, DC in the escalating row.
In a statement filed on Thursday, Australia said there was “no legal basis” to several disputed Chinese claims in the sea, including those related to the construction of artificial islands on small shoals and reefs.
“Australia rejects China’s claim to ‘historic rights’ or ‘maritime rights and interests’ as established in the ‘long course of historical practice’ in the South China Sea,” the declaration read.
“There is no legal basis for China to draw straight baselines connecting the outermost points of maritime features or ‘island groups’ in the South China Sea, including around the ‘Four Sha’ or or ‘outlying’ archipelagos.”
The declaration comes after US secretary of state Mike Pompeo declared Beijing’s pursuit of territory and resources in the South China Sea as illegal, explicitly backing the territorial claims of Southeast Asian countries.
Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea based on a so-called nine-dash line, a vague delineation from maps dating back to the 1940s.
The latest escalation comes ahead of talks between Australia and the United States, with ministers travelling to Washington for the first time since Australian borders were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Trump administration’s decision to shutter the Chinese consulate in Houston followed years of frustration about what it says were criminal and covert activity directed by Beijing to steal trade secrets.
Also, China’s foreign ministry said that US law enforcement officials improperly entered its consulate in Houston.