In
a statement filed on Thursday, Australia said there was “no legal basis” to
several disputed Chinese claims in the sea including those related to the
construction of artificial islands on small shoals and reefs.
“Australia
rejects China’s claim to ‘historic rights’ or ‘maritime rights and interests’
as established in the ‘long course of historical practice’ in the South China
Sea,” the declaration read.
“There
is no legal basis for China to draw straight baselines connecting the outermost
points of maritime features or ‘island groups’ in the South China Sea,
including around the ‘Four Sha’ or ‘continental’ or ‘outlying’ archipelagos.”
The declaration comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
declared Beijing’s pursuit of territory and resources in the South China Sea as
illegal, explicitly backing the territorial claims of Southeast Asian countries
against China’s.
Beijing
claims almost all of the South China Sea based on a so-called nine-dash line, a
vague delineation from maps dating back to the 1940s.
The
latest escalation comes ahead of annual talks between Australia and the United
States, with ministers travelling to Washington for the first time since
Australian borders were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The
meetings come at a “critical time” and it is essential they are held
face-to-face, Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds
said in a statement on Saturday.
US
relations with China have markedly deteriorated in recent months, especially
over trade disputes, the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing’s crackdown on
dissent in Hong Kong.
On
Friday, Beijing ordered the US consulate in Chengdu to shut in retaliation for
the closure of its Houston mission over accusations of being a hub for
intellectual property theft.
Payne
and Reynolds also penned an article in The Australian newspaper on Saturday, labelling national
security legislation imposed on Hong Kong last month as “sweeping and vague”.
“We
face a public health crisis, economic upheaval and resurgent authoritarian
regimes using coercion in a bid to gain power and influence at the expense of
our freedoms and sovereignty,” they wrote.
