China demands Australia stop 'inciting confrontation' over South China Sea

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has demanded Australia stop “exaggerating tensions and inciting confrontation” over the South China Sea after Penny Wong warned Beijing against “destabilising” conduct in the region.

The comments came after China and the Philippines blamed one another for a physical confrontation between the China Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy in the South China Sea on Monday.

On Wednesday Senator Wong said Australia was concerned about “aggression” and “destabilising conduct” and that countries had a “choice to make” about how to respond.

When asked about Senator Wong’s comments, 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 spat comes against the backdrop of an intense bout of regional diplomacy in the Philippines, which is hosting dozens of foreign ministers and senior officials for the annual ASEAN meeting in Manila.

The issue of China’s behaviour loomed large ahead of the meeting, and 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.

But the physical confrontation, in which a Filipino sailor was struck on the head with a baton, threw the issue back into the spotlight.

At a press conference, local journalists asked Senator Wong about the incident, as well as a Chinese missile test and rising tensions in the region.

“We are concerned about some of the aggression we are seeing, we are concerned about some of the destabilising conduct we are seeing,” the foreign minister said.

“The countries of the region have a choice to make about how we all respond to that and Australia believes we should respond to that by working for peace and stability … [and] by continuing to call for and encouraging compliance with observation of international law and of safe and professional conduct at sea and in the air.”

Senator Wong met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday night and raised Australia’s concerns over China’s missile test earlier this month.

China fired a dummy warhead from a nuclear-powered submarine. It landed in the Pacific, around the exclusive economic zone of Tuvalu.

Minister to use ASEAN as platform

The verbal stoush comes as the foreign minister prepares to deliver a sometimes-grim speech on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Thursday, where she will urge for freedom of navigation to be protected and warn the region that no “single power” should be able to “set the terms of our future”.

Senator Wong is expected to use the address to make it clear that critical waterways like the Strait of Hormuz must remain toll-free.

“The Strait of Hormuz shows what we in this region have always understood … that people suffer when a strait is weaponised,” she will say.

She will once again take aim at China over its recent 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”.

“It comes in the context of China’s rapid military build-up, including of its nuclear arsenal, without the transparency or reassurance the region expects,” she will say.

“Which is why Australia has described the test as provocative and destabilising.”

She is also set to urge other countries in the region to “resist the urge to turn inwards” and “the trend away from rules to use of power” in the face of global strategic ruptures and China’s growing might.

“It demands we invest in our region, in our relationships, in the rules — in our collective resilience — before it is too late,” she will warn.

“Before the rules are so diminished that they are no longer recognisable.

“Before crisis closes the door on cooperation.”

While she does not mention the most recent South China Sea confrontation in her speech, she will also vow to continue “registering our concerns about China’s vessels engaging in destabilising and dangerous conduct”.

Philippines says navy personnel injured

China’s Foreign Ministry has again blamed the Philippines for the physical altercation, in which the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said one of its navy personnel was injured.

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Footage of the incident shows the China Coast Guard and Philippine Navy briefly engaging each other from inflatable boats.

The incident took place at the Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines has a military outpost on a grounded ship.

“China has already made clear its solemn position regarding the malicious attacks by Philippine personnel against Chinese law enforcement officers,” Mr Lin said.

For its part, AFP 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, along with much of the South China Sea.

China’s nine-dash line claim was rejected by a tribunal at The Hague a decade ago, but China disputes the ruling.

Philippine Foreign Minister Theresa Lazaro raised the incident during talks with Mr Wang on Wednesday.

“I reiterated our strong protest over the unacceptable actions against Filipino personnel near Ayungin Shoal,” Ms Lazaro said on social media.

The US State Department in a statement said it condemned “China’s dangerous and aggressive actions against Philippine navy personnel”.

“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 statement said.

In a statement, the European Union delegation to the Philippines expressed “its deep concern over the steady increase of tensions and dangerous incidents in the South China Sea”.