Australia lambasts China for ‘not maintaining peace & prosperity’ in South China Sea

Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton on Friday launched a scathing attack on China, saying that Beijing's actions were out of sync with the Chinese government’s rhetoric about maintaining peace and prosperity in the hotly contested South China Sea area. “We've watched very closely as the Chinese government has engaged in increasingly alarming activities”, Dutton said during an address to the National Press Club on November 26, adding that Australia's main focus is to deter Chinese aggression and its expansionist agendas in the South China Sea with collaborative efforts of other neighbouring countries.  

“We're all familiar with the frequent claims of the Chinese government that it is committed to peace, cooperation and development. And yet we bear witness to a significant disconnect between the words and the actions,” Sputnik quoted Dutton saying during an address to the National Press Club.

The Australian minister lambasted China over the implementation of the draconian National Security Law to squash the dissent voices in Hong Kong, and Beijing’s stance on self-ruled island Taiwan, whom PRC calls a breakaway province. He also derided China’s belligerence against the smaller island nations in the South China Sea, namely Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, and Malaysia. China lays sovereign claims on the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea despite that there has been no international law recognising such claims. Ramping up his pre-election warnings against China, Dutton declared that China sees other countries in the region as "tributary states”.

Beijing will 'dominate Asia' if it invades Taiwan, warns Australian minister

A report carried by The Guardian cited the Australian minister as sending a dire warning to the world, claiming that Beijing would quickly dominate Asia if it succeeds in invading Taiwan. "The point I make is the regional order on which our prosperity and security is founded would change almost overnight," Dutton told the National Press Club.

"In the absence of a counter-pressure, the Chinese government becomes the sole security and economic partner for Indo-Pacific nations. Now, that is a perilous military and economic situation for our country, but for so many more,” he asserted. Australia and China’s bilateral relations strained earlier last year after Beijing unilaterally imposed tariffs on Australian barley imports shortly after Canberra joined the US in strengthening calls for investigation on Coronavirus’ origin.