By
James Cogan
18 February 2016
Australian foreign minister Julie
Bishop utilised talks with Chinese officials yesterday to echo the demands of
the United States that China cease land reclamation and the militarisation of
islands and reefs in the South China Sea. Bishop arrived in Beijing shortly
after Fox News broadcast “exclusive” satellite imagery apparently showing the
installation of surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island—an island under Chinese
control for 60 years.
Bishop described her discussions in
Beijing as a “forthright and candid exchange of views.” She had foreshadowed
the positions she raised behind closed doors in public statements made in
Tokyo. Bishop spent two days in Japan, holding talks with the Abe government,
delivering a major foreign policy speech and giving interviews to the Japanese
media.
Following talks with Japanese foreign
minister Fumio Kishida, Bishop told the media that she would question the
motives behind Chinese activities in the South China Sea and insist on
reassurances that “China does not intend to militarise the islands.” She also
reasserted Australia’s position, supporting the United States, that it will
exercise “freedom of navigation,” including by military vessels and aircraft,
through the disputed territory.
According to various media reports, the
Australian navy has drawn up plans for such an operation and is waiting for the
go-ahead from the government. The Australian air force is already conducting
operations near disputed islands that challenge China’s claims.
Bishop stressed the pro-forma position
of the US and Australia that they do not take a position on the rival claims
between China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia over areas of the
South China Sea. Nevertheless she outraged Beijing by declaring that Australia
recognised “the Philippines’ right to seek to resolve the matter through
arbitration.”
The United Nations’ Permanent Court
of Arbitration, part of the International Court of Justice, has ruled that it
has jurisdiction to rule on a Philippine submission—drawn up by top US-based
legal experts—to have China’s “nine-dotted line” territorial claim in the South
China Sea declared invalid. The case is currently being heard.
China has flatly rejected the
legitimacy of any international court ruling over territory in the South China
Sea where it asserts “indisputable sovereignty” and defines as “an area of
‘core interest’ that is non-negotiable.” In response to Bishop’s comment on the
Philippines’ case, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson bluntly told
journalists: “China will certainly not accept this. Australia ought not to
selectively avoid this reality.”
In reference to Bishop’s statements
on freedom of navigation, the Chinese spokesperson stated that Beijing hopes
Australia would “not do anything to harm regional peace and stability.”
Australia’s endorsement of the
Philippines’ action is particularly cynical given it refused to recognise the
right of the same court to adjudicate on the division of the resource-rich
Timor Sea between Australia and East Timor. Instead, Canberra pressured the
impoverished statelet into accepting Australian control over the bulk of the
Timor Sea oil and gas reserves.
Bishop’s visit to Japan and China
underscored Australia’s role as a key partner of Washington in its aggressive
“pivot to Asia” and military planning and preparations for war. In response to
Chinese statements recalling the role of Japanese imperialism in World War II
and expressing Beijing’s “hope” that Australia would oppose any changes to
Japan’s “pacifist” constitution, Bishop declared: “We moved on many years ago
in relation to both Germany and Japan.”
Bishop’s statement tacitly endorses
moves by the Japanese government to rewrite the constitution to remove the
clauses banning the country from possessing armed forces and waging war. Such
clauses were rendered a virtual dead-letter decades ago by the establishment of
Japan’s “Self-Defense Forces” as one of the most heavily-armed and
technologically advanced militaries in the world, and by Japan’s support roles
in the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last year, the government through
legislation authorising “collective self-defense”—in other words, open
engagement in Washington’s wars of aggression.
Japan is poised to secure its first
major military export contract in decades, in the form of an Australian
contract for between eight to twelve diesel-powered attack submarines worth an
estimated $50 billion. Japan currently has 22 Soryu submarines in operation in
the waters along China’s coast and in the Pacific Ocean. Rival German, French
and Japanese corporations are bidding for the contract, but it is an open
secret that Washington prefers Japan, for strategic reasons. As part of the
“pivot,” the US is actively encouraging the build-up and close integration of
the military forces of its main regional allies, above all, Australia and
Japan.
The submarine deal would cement an
already burgeoning relationship between the two countries. While in Tokyo,
Bishop discussed plans for an increase in joint military exercises and
exchanges between the Australian and Japanese armed forces. She declared that
boosting the Japanese military and its operations in the region and
internationally was a “vital and necessary complement to the United States.”
The author also
recommends:
The
Pentagon’s CSIS report and Australia’s role in the escalating war drive against
China
[3 February 2016]
[3 February 2016]
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