Defence Minister Richard Marles has said that trust in China’s intent is the single most important ingredient to the maintenance of the global rules-based international order and that would be at the heart of building a stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
However, he noted that Chinese military exercises that practise attacks and blockades of Taiwan do not inspire confidence that it prioritises or is planning for a peaceful settlement to the status of the island, which it sees as a breakaway province.
Marles was speaking in Singapore on 1 June at the annual Shangri La Dialogue security summit organised by the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies, an event which brings together the defence ministers, military officials and academics.
Speaking at a plenary session together with Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Seiha and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell Fontelles, Marles added that a stable and sustainable regional order would not be possible unless all countries - but especially big ones - pursue their strategic objectives in a manner that respects the sovereign rights of our neighbours and the obligations imposed by international law.
“That is why we must pay attention to China’s strategic behaviour and the signals that it sends. Actions 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 (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the final and binding 2016 South China Sea arbitration ruling.” he continued.
However, he did not repeat his remarks that Australia has “security anxieties” with China, which he had said during a TV interview with Bloomberg prior to the Shangri La Dialogue.
He also brought up in his plenary speech the recent instances where a Chinese navy ship activated its sonar while Australian naval divers were in the water in the East China Sea and the release of flares by a fighter jet in the path of a naval helicopter, saying that they posed a serious risk of injury to ADF personnel while they were enforcing UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea.
Nevertheless, he repeated previous remarks that the majority of interactions between the ADF and the Chinese military were safe and professional, although he added during the question-and-answer session following the speech that he would like to see every interaction between the two militaries in the region to be safe and professional.
Marles also touched on the increasing alignment between China and Russia, warning that its support of Russia as it continues its invasion of Ukraine raises questions about the role it is going to play as a global actor.
He also called on China to accept the greater scrutiny on the way it uses its strength and which countries it chooses to partner with as it steps up to a larger global role, calling the views expressed sometimes by Chinese officials that its strategic partnership with Russia is a necessary buffer against anti-China hostility as “wrong”, pointing out that the economic rise of China has been a source of economic prosperity for many countries around the world, including Australia, and that there is no indelible hostility to China.
Instead, Marles called on China to make it clear in word and deed that it does not support the invasion of a sovereign country, consistent with China’s own “longstanding commitment to the (UN) Charter’s founding principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity”, saying that it would be a huge vote of confidence in Chinese regional and global leadership.
China has pointedly not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine even as the war approaches its 28th month, and has instead provided or preparing to provide the Russian military with what British intelligence has called “lethal aid”, a charge which China has denied.