Australia’s Wong says region faces choice about its response to South China Sea ‘aggression’
MANILA, July 22 (Reuters) – Asian countries face a choice about how to respond to examples of aggressive behavior in the South China Sea that worry Canberra, Australia’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting led by Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN, Penny Wong said the latest confrontation between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea was a real cause for concern, as well as being destabilizing and risky.
“We’re concerned about some of the aggression we’ve seen,” Wong said. “We are concerned about some of the destabilizing behavior we are seeing.”
“Countries in the region have the right to make a choice about how we all respond to this.”
Wong was referring to an altercation on Monday in which he said one of Manila’s navy personnel was hit in the head. Beijing accused Manila of provoking the incident, and as a result, both countries summoned each other’s ambassadors.
China’s foreign ministry said Australia was not a party to the South China Sea issue and had no right to intervene in related maritime matters.
“China urges relevant countries to stop creating tension and provoking conflict,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at the daily briefing, adding that Beijing would continue to appropriately handle maritime disputes through dialogue and consultation.
(Reporting by Nestor Corrales in Manila, additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing, Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by David Stanway and Thomas Derpinghaus)
