Australia has formally declared that China’s major maritime claims in the South China Sea have “no legal basis” and are invalid.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has laid claim to most of the South China Sea, citing the so-called “nine-dash line,” a vaguely-defined U-shaped delineation that carves out the regions where it claims “historic rights” to resources within the sea.
Australia’s statement says, “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 ‘continental’ or ‘outlying’ archipelagos.
“Australia rejects any claims to internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf based on such straight baselines.”
Australia also rejected the CCP’s sovereignty claims to the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands as being “widely recognized by the international community,” citing recent protests by Vietnam and the Philippines to the areas.
The CCP has in recent years constructed artificial islands equipped with naval and air bases in surrounding areas to the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands, in an apparent bid to assert its claim over the regions, in addition to increasing its overall military presence in the South China Sea.
Other countries with territorial claims to the resource-rich South China Sea include the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
“The Australian government encourages all claimants in the South China Sea, including China, to clarify their maritime claims and resolve their differences peacefully, in accordance with international law, particularly UNCLOS,” Australia’s statement reads.
They noted that there have been “coercive actions in the South China Sea,” which “continue to create tensions that destabilizes the region.”
Without explicitly singling out the Chinese regime, Payne and Reynolds also noted other key security issues in the Indo-Pacific region: the recent “national security” legislation imposed on Hong Kong, increasing cyber attacks, and “disinformation by malicious actors ... who have taken advantage of the COVID-19 crisis to undermine democratic systems and inflame social polarization.”
