China has demanded Australia stop "exaggerating tensions and inciting confrontation" over the South China Sea, after Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned Beijing against "destabilising" conduct in the region.
The diplomatic rebuke came as Wong attended the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Manila, where she raised Australia's concerns over China's behaviour, including a recent missile test and a physical confrontation between Chinese and Philippine naval forces at Second Thomas Shoal. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that "whenever there is the slightest disturbance at sea … the same small handful of countries rush to the forefront to oppose China without regard for the facts". "China urges the relevant countries to stop exaggerating tensions and inciting confrontation, and to genuinely respect the efforts made by regional countries to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea," Mr Lin said.
The verbal stoush comes against the backdrop of an intense bout of regional diplomacy in the Philippines, which is hosting dozens of foreign ministers for the annual ASEAN meeting. ASEAN foreign ministers are eager to make progress on a South China Sea code of conduct that they hope will be finalised by the end of the year. However, the physical confrontation on Monday, in which a Filipino sailor was struck on the head with a baton, has thrown the issue back into the spotlight.
Senator Wong, who met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday night, raised Australia's concerns over China's missile test earlier this month, in which a dummy warhead was fired from a nuclear-powered submarine and landed near Tuvalu. She is expected to deliver a speech on Thursday urging freedom of navigation to be protected and warning that no "single power" should be able to "set the terms of our future". She will also criticise China's ballistic missile test, saying it "came with too little information and notification, particularly to the Philippines — which the missile flew over — and Pacific nations, near where the missile landed".
The Philippines has said one of its navy personnel was injured in the incident at Second Thomas Shoal, where it maintains a military outpost on a grounded ship. Footage shows the China Coast Guard and Philippine Navy briefly engaging each other from inflatable boats. China's Foreign Ministry blamed the Philippines for the altercation, stating that China has already made clear its solemn position regarding the malicious attacks by Philippine personnel against Chinese law enforcement officers. The Armed Forces of the Philippines said China's Coast Guard "reacted violently and aggressively".
The Second Thomas Shoal is within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, which China claims as its own under its nine-dash line claim — a claim rejected by a tribunal at The Hague a decade ago, though Beijing disputes the ruling. Philippine Foreign Minister Theresa Lazaro raised the incident during talks with Wang Yi on Wednesday, stating she "reiterated our strong protest over the unacceptable actions against Filipino personnel near Ayungin Shoal".
The United States State Department condemned "China's dangerous and aggressive actions against Philippine navy personnel", saying that "China's troubling pattern of provocation against lawful Philippine maritime operations undermines regional peace and stability and directly contradicts China's repeated commitments to resolve disputes peacefully". The European Union delegation to the Philippines also expressed "its deep concern over the steady increase of tensions and dangerous incidents in the South China Sea".
