Australia called for simultaneous relations with China and the Philippines

According to the international group Tasnim News Agency, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles today at the Shangri-La security meeting in Singapore, Requested military negotiations with China and getting closer to the Philippines.

China and the Philippines are in tension with each other over parts of the South China Sea. With China insisting on its claims of ownership over the waters of the Thomas Shoal II Islands, their confrontation has increased. Manila claims that this part of the South China Sea is in its country’s exclusive economic zone and China should not claim ownership of it.

According to this report, Australia It has increased its presence in this region, and the joint land and sea military exercises with the participation of the Philippines in Palawan Island in August was Australia’s largest exercise outside the country’s borders last year.

Australia stated that it felt less safe in recent confrontations with the Chinese army, and Marles emphasized that he raised this issue with the Chinese defense minister on the sidelines of the meeting.

Marles added in a conversation with Reuters: “Our basic request to meet with China in an out-of-session meeting was to expand and develop defense dialogues with this country.” We really want to eventually return to where we stopped before, and this issue will be at the level of the annual meetings of the defense ministers and deputy defense ministers of both sides.

Chinese defense officials met with their Australian counterparts in Canberra last year as the first official meeting since 2019. Since then, Australia has complained about close encounters with Chinese jets over the Yellow Sea and Beijing’s use of sonar in the sea while Australian divers were swimming in waters near Japan, calling it a dangerous move. read.

Meanwhile, Beijing has said it has taken the necessary steps to warn Australia of the Chinese jets’ incident and that the use of the audio tracker by One of its naval destroyers has rejected Australian divers nearby.

Marles also held talks with Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro on the sidelines of this meeting. In this regard, he said, “We rightly believe that it is time for our relationship with the Philippines to truly reach a level that has never been before, and we very much welcome this.” >