Muscle flexing by China in the East Sea is feeding regional
insecurity, an Australian senior government minister was quoted by the
Wall Street Journal as saying at a recent conference.
At the
June 30 security and economic leadership conference held at the
Australian National University, Australia’s Communications Minister
Malcolm Turnbull said “What the Chinese policy has been, and I think
it’s curious that it has been so counterproductive, it has been to
muscle up to one or other of its neighbours, or all of its neighbours at
different times.”
He added that China has more to lose if it continues to maintain the aggressive policy.
E
arlier, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his Japanese
counterpart Shinzo Abe will pay a visit to Australia in July and deliver
an address to the Australian Parliament that both sides are committed
to maintain the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific
region.
Australia and Japan recently agreed to strengthen security and trade ties as a counterbalance to China’s rise, Abbott added.
On June 30, the Voice of America (VOA) and BBC quoted Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung’s address at a June cabinet meeting as saying that
China has illegally placed its Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig inside
Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf since May 2 in
defiance of the law, morality and the Vietnam-China relations.
China’s move not only seriously infringes upon Vietnam’s sovereignty,
sovereign right and jurisdiction but also gravely threatens peace,
stability and security in the region, the media reported.-VNA