Anthony Albanese says Australia will not shift its stance on China’s territorial claims over the South China Sea, affirming his support for freedom of navigation in the waterway after announcing new carbon deals with Singapore.
The prime minister met with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on the sidelines of the ASEAN Special Summit on Tuesday.
After announcing the recipients of a $20m green innovation grants program and new agreements to combat cross-border crime, the pair addressed their differing views over Beijing’s expanding military power in the contested waterway.
“We have strongly put our view that freedom of navigation through the South China Sea is important,” Mr Albanese told a press conference.
“A large percentage of Australian trade goes through that sea whether it be on its way to China Japan or the Republic of Korea.
“Our position on China remains very consistent, which is that we want to co-operate where we can, we will disagree where we must, but we will always engage in our national interests.”
Singapore is Australia’s seventh-largest trading partner and fifth-largest foreign investor. Picture: Arsineh Houspian/ASEAN
Mr Albanese added that recent progress in trade relations between Australia and China was a “good thing”, referring to a lift in trade bans on Australian exports.
“It is always good when dialogue occurs and that is our position that will continue to assert,” he said.
While the ASEAN summit has largely focused on promoting trade and economic security, Australia has expressed concerns about China’s claims over the South China Sea as Beijing and Manila continue to assert their military presence in the region.
Mr Lee said Singapore didn’t have a position on the claims, but said negotiations with Beijing on a code of conduct in the South China Sea would “take some time”.
“The issues are not easy to resolve and, really, a negotiating of a code of conduct inevitably raises issues of what the ultimate outcomes are going to be,” he said.
“Therefore, because the ultimate answers are difficult, so too negotiating the code will take quite some time.”
While Foreign Minister Penny Wong did not directly name China in her address to the Maritime Cooperation Forum on Monday, she warned that the region faced “devastating conflict” to likes of wars seen in Gaza and Ukraine if tensions were to escalate.
Penny Wong warned of ‘provocative’ actions including unsafe conduct at sea. Picture: Wayne Taylor/ASEAN
“We see claims and actions that are inconsistent with international law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; the legal order for the seas and oceans,” she said.
“We face destabilising, provocative and coercive actions, including unsafe conduct at sea and in the air and militarisation of disputed features.”
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, with some parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
The Beijing government continues rejected the validity of a UN ruling in 2016 that dismissed its sweeping claims of the disputed sea.
Mr Lee said on Tuesday that Singapore took “no position” on the overlapping disputes of different ASEAN nations and China.
“ASEAN countries have a common position in the South China Sea but we also have different national perspectives going beyond the ASEAN,” he told reporters.
“The positions we take on those claims are different depending on where we stand and Singapore takes no position on the claims.
“We have an interest in freedom of navigation and the application of international law, including on the South China Sea issues because it is a vital artery for international trade for us.”
MPs clash over $2bn fund to boost trade with Southeast Asia
A senior leader has been blasted as “ridiculous” after criticising a multibillion-dollar plan to triple two-way trade between Australia and Southeast Asia.
On Tuesday, Mr Albanese announced a $2bn fund to boost trade and investment, with a focus on clean energy and infrastructure, after addressing a gathering of 100 business leaders in Melbourne.
Ahead of the announcement, the Coalition honed in on the plans to argue that Australia needed to increase its focus on local infrastructure spending, citing concerns raised by Thai officials about Labor’s new car pollution standards during Monday’s meetings.
“Listen, it’s great to have ASEAN nations in Melbourne hosting their great regional partners. This guy is busy cutting infrastructure over here at home and then spending local taxpayers’ money to build infrastructure in Ho Chi Minh City,” Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said.
“He’s the Prime Minister. That’s what you get with a Labor government.”
But independent MP Monique Ryan said it was “ridiculous” to suggest Australia should not be engaging with Asia.
Anthony Albanese, Jim Chalmers and Penny Wong held talks with their Malaysian counterparts on Monday. Picture: Steve Christo/ASEAN
“We need to be responsible about all of our spending. But I also think that Bridget is, you know, very much locked in the 1960s,” she said.
“If she thinks that we shouldn’t be looking to Asia as major trade and financial partners for this country, it would be non-forward thinking for us to take that attitude.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the $2bn Southeast Asia investment financing facility would help to “turbocharge” trade between the two regions and the government would engage with Australian businesses to make clear how they could access the funding.
“It’s about making sure we can make this two-way investment more attractive to people, de-risk it where we can,” Dr Chalmers said.
“It’s in the interests of every Australian we get the two-way investment and trade happening the best it can be. Our future lies in this region.”
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said it made “enormous” sense for Australia to strengthen its investment ties into Southeast Asia.
“The details of this fund is something we will closely scrutinise so we can understand the budgetary impacts,” he told Sky on Tuesday.
Leave a Reply