Commercial planes should continue flying over the South China Sea despite the risk of “miscalculation” from the apparent placement of surface-to-air missile launchers in the disputed region, Julie Bishop has said.
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, who raised the “deeply worrying” issue during her visit to Beijing last week, said her Chinese counterparts had neither confirmed nor denied reports of the recent deployment to Woody Island.
“They said that in any event they were entitled to establish self-defence facilities,” Bishop told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
“We are talking about an area where civilian aircraft pass through, where there’s a lot of navigation, because it’s a significant trade route, not only for Australia but for other countries … My point is that if there are surface-to-air missiles in an area where commercial aircraft fly, then there is a risk of miscalculation.”
Asked how the commercial airline industry should respond to the risk, Bishop said commercial ships and planes “should continue as normal … because Chinahas undertaken not to militarise”.
She reaffirmed Australia’s calls for all countries claiming territory in the South China Sea to cease land reclamation work.
“A number of claimants have reclaimed land and constructed things but the scope and scale and speed of China’s activities have dwarfed those of all others,” Bishop said.
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and his New Zealand counterpart, John Key, made a similar call in a joint statement after bilateral talks in Sydney on Friday. They said all claimants should take steps to ease tensions in the vital trade route.
Tensions rose last week after Beijing appeared to install batteries of eight missile launchers and a radar system on Woody Island, which is part of the Paracel Island chain and is claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Images of the equipment were taken by the private company ImageSat International and the development was subsequently confirmed by the Taiwanese defence ministry.
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