{"id":87259,"date":"2024-06-04T11:03:31","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T01:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=87259"},"modified":"2024-06-04T11:03:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T01:03:31","slug":"australia-sees-the-west-philippine-sea-in-the-south-china-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-sees-the-west-philippine-sea-in-the-south-china-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia sees the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

In the \u2018differ where we must\u2019 dimension of dealing with China, Australia is wielding a new nomenclature stick. (Schtick?)<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles talks about the \u2018West Philippine Sea\u2019, not just the \u2018South China Sea\u2019.<\/p>\n

Kicking away some of the dashes in China\u2019s nine-dash line claiming the whole of the South China Sea certainly pokes the dragon.<\/p>\n

The \u2018West Philippine Sea\u2019 was first used by Manila in 2011 in expressing<\/a> its disagreement with Beijing\u2019s claim. The \u2018West Philippine Sea\u2019 refers only to waters in the Philippines\u2019 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, not the whole of the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s previous Liberal-National Party government stuck<\/a> to using only the \u2018South China Sea\u2019 in its dealings with the Philippines. Marles shifted usage<\/a> during his visits to the Philippines last year. At a press conference in Zambales in August, Marles referred to the importance of Manila\u2019s victory over Beijing in the arbitral award under the UN Law of the Sea: \u2018The 2016 arbitral award is profoundly important in terms of what it says about the West Philippine Sea and we support the 2016 arbitral award.\u2019<\/p>\n

In May this year in Hawaii, Marles joined defence ministers from the US, Japan and the Philippines in saying that \u2018they strongly objected to the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea. They reiterated serious concern over the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019s repeated obstruction of Philippine vessels\u2019 exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and the disruption of supply lines to Second Thomas Shoal, which constitute dangerous and destabilizing conduct.\u2019<\/p>\n

The statement pledged maritime cooperation in the Philippines\u2019 EEZ but did not refer to the West Philippine Sea, reflecting caution by both Japan and the US. In backing its treaty ally, the Philippines, the United States has avoided<\/a> the \u2018West Philippine Sea\u2019 phrase.<\/p>\n

Not so Marles, who told the Hawaii press conference of the \u2018challenge<\/a> to the global rules\u2011based order in the East China Sea, in the South China Sea, in the West Philippine Sea. And our four countries are utterly committed to asserting freedom of navigation, to asserting the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to asserting the global rules\u2011based order around the oceans of the world, including in the West Philippine Sea.\u2019<\/p>\n

At the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore at the weekend, Marles questioned China\u2019s strategic behaviour and the signals it sent, offering this as his first example: \u2018Actions by Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea, such as the use of water cannons and the ramming of Philippine vessels, are a serious escalation of tensions and inconsistent with UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 South China Sea arbitration ruling.\u2019<\/p>\n

Two of the strongest speeches attacking Chinese behaviour were from Marles and the keynote address from the Philippines\u2019 President Ferdinand Marcos Junior.<\/p>\n

Marcos said China aimed to \u2018propagate excessive and baseless claims through force, intimidation, and deception. In the West Philippine Sea, we are on the frontlines of efforts to assert the integrity of the UNCLOS as a Constitution of the Oceans. We have defined our territory and maritime zones in a manner befitting a responsible and law-abiding member of the international community. We have submitted our assertions to rigorous legal scrutiny by the world\u2019s leading jurists. So, the lines that we draw on our waters are not derived from just our imagination, but from international law.\u2019<\/p>\n

The response from Chinese Defence Minister Admiral Dong Jun was to claim that the Philippines, backed by the US, had \u2018abandoned bilateral agreements, broken its promises, and taken premeditated action to stir up incidents\u2019. China\u2019s restraint, he said, \u2018has its limits\u2019.<\/p>\n

Canberra embraces Marcos far more than it did his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte. The warmth is encouraged by a consensus in Manila that Duterte\u2019s attempt to cosy up to China failed. Duterte tried to play nice; Beijing kept playing nasty. Tough talk from Marcos rhymes with much coming from Canberra.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Albanese visited Manila in September and welcomed Marcos to Canberra in February. Albanese called the Philippines a close friend and strategic partner<\/a>: \u2018Australia sees the Philippines as a central player and a crucial partner for us in Southeast Asia.\u2019<\/p>\n

Marcos says that as a senator he was a co-sponsor of an Archipelagic Baselines Law, which defines the basis of the Philippines\u2019 maritime jurisdiction. As president, he intends to sign \u2018a Maritime Zones Law, which will clarify the geographic extent of our maritime domain\u2019.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s call on that domain definition is in. Australia is the second country, after the US, to commit to joint patrols<\/a> with the Philippines in its waters.<\/p>\n

Adopting the notion of the West Philippine Sea, Australia embraces a geographic term that has found little favour with countries other than the Philippines in the Association of South East Asian Nations. The ASEAN language of neutrality and non-alignment trumps solidarity with the Philippines. It\u2019s the South China Sea to ASEAN members\u2014apart from Vietnam, which calls it the East Sea.<\/p>\n

The Marcos administration is getting more explicit support on the West Philippine Sea from Australia than it does from ASEAN.<\/p>\n

Sticking with the Philippines\u2019 map, Australia is sticking it to China. That\u2019s a pointy schtick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the \u2018differ where we must\u2019 dimension of dealing with China, Australia is wielding a new nomenclature stick. (Schtick?) Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles talks about the \u2018West Philippine Sea\u2019, not just …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":87260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,2212,370,471],"class_list":["post-87259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-australia-china-relations","tag-philippines","tag-south-china-sea"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia sees the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-sees-the-west-philippine-sea-in-the-south-china-sea\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia sees the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the \u2018differ where we must\u2019 dimension of dealing with China, Australia is wielding a new nomenclature stick. 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