China has criticised Australian politicians for making remarks that "instigate confrontation" after weeks of warnings of conflict in the Indo-Pacific were followed by Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo using a staff address to say "drums of war" are beating in the region.
Key points:
- Relations between China and Australia have soured over the past 12 months
- Current and former politicians in Australia have warned of potential military conflict with China recently
- China's Foreign Ministry spokesman has criticised Australia for what he labelled a "Cold War mentality"
In his Wednesday press conference Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, called Australia's politicians the "real troublemakers" and declared Australia's hyping of a China threat "unethical".
He also said Australia had long benefited from its relationship with China, which in recent times has deteriorated since Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne called for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
"As a country that has long benefited from cooperation with China, it is unethical for Australia to hype a 'China threat' theory, nor is the allegation consistent with facts," he said.
"It will end up hurting itself.
Some of that hurt has already occurred as China has come down heavily on several Australian industries with trade bans and heavy tariffs — and now Mr Zhao has accused Australia of operating with a Cold War mentality against China.
On Anzac Day Mr Pezzullo sent a message to staffers where he did not specifically mention China but said "the drums of war beat – sometimes faintly and distantly, and at other times more loudly and ever closer".
It was the latest reference to potential trouble brewing in the Indo-Pacific where China is trying to exert influence over neighbouring Taiwan.
Earlier this week, Defence Minister Peter Dutton warned potential conflict between the two nations "should not be discounted".
Philippines refuses to back down to China
Reuters
)The Philippines defence ministry says Beijing has no business telling the South-East Asian nation what it can do within its waters.
Philippines Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters China has "no authority or legal basis to prevent us from conducting these exercises" in the South China Sea because "their claims … have no basis."
The Philippine coastguard and fisheries bureau started maritime exercises on Saturday inside the country's 321-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), following an announcement of a boosting of its presence to counter the "threatening" presence of Chinese boats.
Responding to the exercises, China's foreign ministry on Monday said the Philippines should "stop actions complicating the situation and escalating disputes".
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, where about $3.9 trillion worth of ship-borne trade passes each year.
In 2016, an arbitral tribunal in The Hague rule that claim, which China bases on its old maps, is inconsistent with international law.
The Philippines has taken a tough tone in recent weeks over the lingering presence of hundreds of Chinese boats in its EEZ, reviving tensions that had eased in recent times
Saturday's exercises took place near a Philippine-held island in the disputed Spratly archipelago and at the heavily contested Scarborough Shoal, which the tribunal in 2016 said was a traditional fishing spot for several countries.
On Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin ordered the filing of another diplomatic protest, one of more than a dozen recently, this time over China's rebuke.
"They can say what they want from the Chinese mainland; we continue to assert from our waters by right of international law what we won in The Hague. But we must not fail to protest," Mr Locsin wrote on social media.
AP/Reuters
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2021-04-28 15:04:34Z
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