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Beijing vows to continue S. China Sea construction
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) July 19, 2016


US, Australia a 'united front' in Pacific: Biden
Sydney (AFP) July 19, 2016 - US and Australian troops plan to step up training so they are "fully prepared" to answer challenges in the Pacific, US Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday amid rising tensions over Beijing's claims in the South China Sea.

Speaking in Sydney after meeting Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Biden said the two nations were a "genuine brotherhood" committed to "making sure the sea lanes are open and the skies are free for navigation".

"They are the life bloodlines of commerce and the economic growth worldwide," Biden said in the wake of last week's ruling by a UN-backed tribunal against Beijing's claims in the disputed waters.

Beijing asserts sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, despite rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbours -- most notably US ally the Philippines, which took the case to the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration.

The United States, like Australia, has no claims of its own in the South China Sea, but insists that all shipping has a right to pass through seas it regards as international waters.

"We also discussed the steps that Australia and the United States are taking so our troops can train more together and increase our interoperability so that we are fully prepared to respond to any challenges, any challenges, in the Pacific with a united front," Biden said.

"It's important we stand together," he added, as he stressed that the United States was a Pacific power and intended to remain so.

Turnbull used a short media briefing alongside Biden to announce that Australia was expanding its role in Iraq to include the training of law enforcement officers and police as well as its current training of the Iraqi army.

Australia has been a staunch ally of the United States in Iraq and in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Biden's visit, which comes as President Barack Obama enters the final months of his administration, ends on Wednesday when he travels to New Zealand.

Beijing will "never" stop building in the South China Sea prematurely, a top military official has vowed, despite an international ruling that its actions were illegal.

The pushback came as China launched war games in waters in the strategically vital region, where diplomatic tensions are high.

"We will never stop our construction on the Nansha Islands halfway," Wu Shengli, the commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, told US counterpart Admiral John Richardson, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Nansha is China's name for the Spratlys, where Beijing has rapidly turned reefs into artificial islands with facilities capable of military use, including extensive runways.

The reef system has multiple claimants in the region.

"The Nansha Islands are China's inherent territory, and our necessary construction on the islands is reasonable, justified and lawful," Wu added.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague last week ruled that there was no legal basis for Beijing's claims to much of the South China Sea, embodied in a "nine-dash line" that dates from 1940s maps and stretches close to other countries' coasts.

Its extensive decision also said that China's construction on Mischief Reef had "violated the Philippines' sovereign rights with respect to its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf".

Manila -- which lodged the suit against Beijing -- welcomed the decision but China dismissed it as a "piece of waste paper".

Wu said Beijing would not be intimated over the issue, adding: "Any attempt to force China to give in through flexing military muscles will only have the opposite effect."

Despite Chinese objections, the European Union weighed in on the subject at a regional summit last weekend, with President Donald Tusk telling reporters the bloc "will continue to speak out in support of upholding international law", adding that it had "full confidence" in the PCA and its decisions.

China pressured countries in the ASEAN bloc of Southeast Asian nations not to issue a joint statement on the ruling, diplomats said.

The US, Japan and Australia, amongst others, have urged Beijing to fall into line and respect the tribunal's ruling.

- 'Flexing military muscles' -

An area off the east coast of China's island province of Hainan will host military exercises from Tuesday to Thursday, China's maritime administration said on its website, adding that entrance was "prohibited".

The area of sea identified is some distance from the Paracel islands and even further from the Spratlys.

Beijing held military drills in the South China Sea just days before the international arbitration court ruling, state media reported.

A combat air patrol was mounted over the sea recently and these would become a regular practice in future, an air force spokesman said separately.

Bombers, fighters and other aircraft were sent to patrol islands and reefs including Huangyan Dao -- the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal -- spokesman Shen Jinke was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying.

Scarborough Shoal is disputed with the Philippines and is seen as a particular flashpoint.

In a separate message on its website, the maritime administration said last week that four out of five lighthouses built atop islands and reefs in the sea have been activated, and a fifth would be put into use soon.


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