Navy commander: South China Sea not a US-versus-China battle

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will host Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for talks from Tuesday to Thursday. They also come ahead of the anticipated release of the Turnbull government’s Defence white paper, which will focus heavily on building Australia’s maritime power in response to the growing uncertainty in Asia provoked by China’s rise.

The three-day trip comes with Beijing and Washington at loggerheads over militarisation in the South China Sea, while at the same time trying to find common ground on how to deal with North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes in the wake of Pyongyang’s latest tests.

Satellite imagery of developments on Woody Island.

Vice Admiral Aucoin, who is on his first trip to Australia since being appointed commander of the Seventh Fleet in September, said other countries were physically expanding disputed islands in the South China Sea but not as aggressively as China.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

During a news briefing on Monday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman spoke to reporters.

Asked whether he was concerned that China would soon start flying fighter planes and other military aircraft from the islands, he said: “I think we need to be prepared for scenarios and whether we fly or sail through those waters, be ready for a range of missions”.

Washington had said it would “continue to test” Beijing’s pledge not to militarize the South China Sea region.

Ms Hua yesterday struck a combative tone, urging the U.S. not to take sides and to stop “hyping up” the issue.

“China deploying necessary national defence facilities on its own territory is no different from the USA deploying defence facilities on Hawaii”, she added.

Aucoin says the U.S.is not using the patrols to single out China and wishes the situation wasn’t portrayed as “U.S. versus China”.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year.

In Australia, Aucoin said Australia and other allies should also send warships to conduct similar operations within 12 nautical miles of the disputed islands.

There have been deadly protests in Vietnam over China’s decision to build an oil rig off the Paracels.

Beijing has been angered by air and sea patrols the United States has conducted near islands China claims.

But China has raised objections, saying the advanced American missile defence system would hurt its security interests. She said the US and China are in close communication on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue.

China has made extensive sovereignty claims on both the Spratlys and the Paracels to the north, based largely on historic claims outlined in a map from the middle part of the 20th Century known as the “Nine Dash Map”.

However, Hua repeated China’s strong opposition to the possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile system in South Korea.