Australia will not bow to Chinese pressure to halt surveillance flights over disputed islands in the South China Sea at the centre of rival claims between China and some of its neighbours, Defence Minister Marise Payne said on Thursday. The Australian Defence Department said on Tuesday one of its aircraft had flown "a routine maritime patrol" over the South China Sea from November 25 to December 4, just as the US Pacific Fleet Commander warned that a possible arms race could engulf the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade ships every year, a fifth of it heading to and from US ports. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim parts of the South China Sea.
China is building seven man-made islands on reefs in the Spratly Islands, including a 3,000-metre-long (10,000-foot) airstrip on one of the sites, according to satellite imagery. Such activity has fanned regional tension. In October, a US guided missile destroyer sailed close to one of China's man-made islands, drawing an angry rebuke from Beijing. US defence officials say another US patrol this year is unlikely.
Payne said Canberra would not be deterred by warnings from Beijing, which again responded angrily to the Australian patrol, and described the flights as a routine part of Australia's role in helping to maintain regional stability and security. "We always navigate in a very constructive way in the region," she told reporters in Adelaide. China's Foreign Ministry, asked about the Australian flights, said this week countries outside the region should not "deliberately complicate the issue".
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