Peter Hartcher: While the world was watching Kabul, Beijing set the scene for the next US humiliation
“nowhere is the rules-based maritime order under greater threat than in the South China Sea. The People’s Republic of China continues to coerce and intimidate south-east Asian coastal states, threatening freedom of navigation in this critical global throughway.”
The Pentagon has signalled that it will ignore it. “Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims, including in the South China Sea, pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded lawful commerce,” said a spokesman last week. But that’s about it. Where does that leave the world’s shipping and trading industries? “Commercial shipping will have no alternative – they will have to accept it,” says the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings. “Particularly if they’re not getting any backup from regional governments. It’s just another consolidation of [China’s] sovereign control.
He said that the annual Australia-US ministerial talks, AUSMIN, due in the next couple of weeks, would be “a litmus”. If there was no clear rejection of Beijing’s claim, it would become a fait accompli. Just as all its other incursions since 2015 have become.China’s politically motivated trade sanctions as a permanent new feature.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Kabul airport reopens to receive aid, domestic flights restartReopening the airport, a vital lifeline with both the outside world and across Afghanistan’s mountainous territory has been a high priority for the Taliban as they seek to restore order after their lightning seizure of Kabul on August 15.
Read more »
Kabul airport reopens and domestic flights resumeDomestic flights resume in Afghanistan between Kabul and three major provincial cities, after a technical team from Qatar reopen the capital's airport for aid and domestic services.
Read more »
Barty shocked by Rogers at US OpenWorld number one Ash Barty is out of the US Open after suffering a dramatic third-set tiebreak loss to American Shelby Rogers.
Read more »
Fatal stabbing in caravan park: copsDetectives have set up a crime scene at a caravan park in Melbourne’s outer south after a man was stabbed to death overnight.
Read more »
How Barty is viewed in women’s locker roomA lovely moment behind the scenes after Ash Barty’s US Open third round loss to American Shelby Rogers has shown just why the world number one is still a champion.
Read more »