Australia stated on Monday that countries in the Indo-Pacific region and Southeast Asia faced serious defence threats, Reuters reported.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced A$286.5 million (US$186.7 million) in funding for ASEAN projects in areas like maritime security, amid tensions over China’s growing assertiveness and claims to the South China Sea.
We face destabilising, provocative and coercive actions including unsafe conduct at sea and in the air. What happens in the South China Sea, in the Taiwan Strait, in the Mekong subregion, across the Indo-Pacific, affects us all.
Melbourne is hosting leaders and officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN) for a summit from Monday to Wednesday. ASEAN member Myanmar has reportedly been excluded due to ongoing conflict in the country.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which more than $3 trillion worth of maritime trade takes place annually, including parts claimed by ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. In 2016, The Permanent Court of Arbitration declared that China’s claims had no legal basis.
Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo stated that the South China Sea held strategic importance and a promising future as long as “nations in the region resolved to uphold co-operation over confrontation.”
In November, Australia and the Philippines launched their first joint maritime and air patrols in the South China Sea. The Philippines is stepping up efforts to counter what it calls China’s “aggressive activities” in the region.
ASEAN has banned Myanmar’s top generals from attending its meetings until they adopt a peace plan. The military leadership has expressed anger over what it calls ASEAN’s interference in its internal affairs.
