{"id":81636,"date":"2023-08-10T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T02:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=81636"},"modified":"2023-08-10T11:47:27","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T01:47:27","slug":"australia-must-speak-up-against-beijings-bullying-of-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-speak-up-against-beijings-bullying-of-the-philippines\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia must speak up against Beijing\u2019s bullying of the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Last weekend, China\u2019s coastguard and maritime militia carried out dangerous and aggressive manoeuvres against a small Philippines boat, blocking and blasting it with a powerful water cannon.<\/p>\n

The vessel was trying to resupply a remote Philippines armed forces\u00a0garrison on Second Thomas Shoal, in the South China Sea\u2019s Spratly Islands, within the Philippines\u2019 undisputed exclusive economic zone.<\/p>\n

This brazen escalation by China is a test for the Australian government\u2019s readiness to speak up in defence of the international rules-based order, and to show support for a key security partner in Southeast Asia\u00ad\u2014a region Can\u00adberra has identified as critical to Australia\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n

At the AUSMIN meeting last month in Brisbane between Australian and US defence and foreign ministers, the two nations committed<\/a> to upholding a \u2018global order based on international law\u2019 and \u2018fundamental principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity\u2019.<\/p>\n

They expressed their \u2018strong opposition\u2019 to destabilising actions in the South China Sea, including \u2018the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia\u2019. They specifically denounced China\u2019s excessive maritime claims as inconsistent with international law and reaffirmed their support for the landmark 2016 arbitral tribunal award in The Hague, which found in favour of the Philippines in its maritime legal dispute against China.<\/p>\n

Washington reacted swiftly to the incident at Second Thomas Shoal, issuing a clear condemnation of China\u2019s actions, simultaneously reassuring Manila and warning Beijing that any escalation to an armed attack on Philippines government vessels would be covered under the US\u2013Philippines Mutual Defence Treaty. This was consistent with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin\u2019s June commitment to the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling at the Shangri-La Dialogue when he stated: \u2018It is \u00adlegally binding, and it is final.\u2019<\/p>\n

By contrast, Canberra has so far refrained from issuing a statement from either the foreign affairs or defence portfolio. The Australian ambassador to Manila did tweet concern about \u2018dangerous and destabilising\u2019 actions but, unlike her US counterpart, did not name China.<\/p>\n

AUSMIN communiqu\u00e9s are important, but they tend to be general and not widely read. The test was always going to be holding specific actions to account. The longer this official reticence about China is maintained, the more it calls into question Australia\u2019s willingness to live up to its rhetoric on the South China Sea when the Philippines has unambiguously been on the receiving end of bullying and intimidation by Beijing.<\/p>\n

It is to the government\u2019s credit that bilateral relations with China have improved and tensions have reduced.\u00a0But the\u00a0formulation of \u2018cooperating where we can and disagreeing where we must\u2019 is not sustainable if the policy means trying to reduce tensions by ignoring differences. This doesn\u2019t deter Beijing\u2019s destabilising actions; it emboldens them.<\/p>\n

If Australia doesn\u2019t strongly call out such a provocative and destabilising breach of international law, one has to wonder what constitutes an issue on which we \u2018must\u2019 disagree with Beijing. Consistency is vital in international relations.\u00a0In this case, it would both demonstrate Australia\u2019s commitment to the rules-based order and signal to all countries, including China, what actions we consider unacceptable. The danger of choosing what \u2018must\u2019 be dealt with on an ad hoc basis, rather than by principle, is the same diplomatic error that led major European powers to think a default of silence and inconsistent engagement in the face of Russian aggression would eventually lead Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin back to the straight and narrow.<\/p>\n

International rules either mean something or they don\u2019t. In the valid attempt to reduce regional tensions, signing onto communiqu\u00e9s that few read while failing to speak up when it matters most risks reducing trust in both Australia and the multilateral system.<\/p>\n

We stood up for the Philippines in 2016 when the tribunal ruled against Beijing, and we should do so now. This is a core issue for Manila. Less\u00a0than a month ago, Philippines Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo thanked the US and Australia for their support on the 2016 arbitral award.\u00a0The Philippines has become one of Australia\u2019s most important defence partners in the region. It was among the first to support AUKUS and has a bilateral visiting forces agreement enabling a high level of access, including Australian\u00a0surveillance flights over the South China Sea. It is not in Canberra\u2019s interests for Manila to doubt the strength of Australia\u2019s commitment.<\/p>\n

Failing to hold Beijing to account for maritime breaches would be another mistake in the mould of the misjudgement to end our World Trade Organization case against Beijing\u2019s punitive tariffs on Australian barley. Abandoning the case spared China the indignity of another adverse international legal ruling that would have deterred Beijing and held it to account on economic coercion. It would also be a mistake to leave the condemnation to the US, as that serves Beijing\u2019s strategic narrative that the issues at stake are only about great-power competition and US containment of China. We are all competing to shape the world in which we want to live\u2014it is not a struggle limited to the US and China. Australia has a vital role by demonstrating that regional stability requires all nations to contribute.<\/p>\n

Australia doesn\u2019t have to fight every battle. But to win a competition, you have to play in it. The law-and-order principles set out in the AUSMIN communiqu\u00e9 go to the heart not just of our security and sovereignty, stretching from the seabed to space, but to the collective security of our region. If that isn\u2019t worth standing up for, what is?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend, China\u2019s coastguard and maritime militia carried out dangerous and aggressive manoeuvres against a small Philippines boat, blocking and blasting it with a powerful water cannon. 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