Australia says to continue surveillance flights over S China Sea

Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne says the country’s military will continue to fly over the disputed waters of the South China Sea despite warnings from China.

Payne told reporters that Canberra would not be deterred by warnings from Beijing. “We always navigate in a very constructive way in the region," she said on Thursday.

Her comments came after the Australian Defense Department confirmed that one of its military aircraft had been involved in a “routine maritime patrol” over the South China Sea from November 25 to December 4.

The flight was said to be part of the so-called Operation Gateway, an Australian Defense Force mission that traces its origins to the Cold War, involving maritime surveillance patrols in the northern Indian Ocean and South China Sea.

According to Australian media reports, there has been rise in such surveillance flights over the South China Sea in the past 12 to 18 months.

However, China had previously responded angrily to the incident, warning that countries “outside the region” should respect the sovereignty of other states and not deliberately complicate the already tense situation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Tuesday said “certain countries are exaggerating tensions in the South China Sea region, which is in reality to create confusion and meddle in the South China Sea.”

Australia is not the only country that has defied warnings from China.

In October, a US guided missile destroyer sailed close to one of China’s islands in the South China Sea, drawing an angry rebuke from Beijing.

In recent weeks, American B-52 bombers have also flown near some islands claimed by China in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, which is also claimed in part by Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The United States has sided with China’s rivals in the territorial dispute, accusing Beijing of implementing what it calls a land reclamation program in the South China Sea by building artificial islands in the disputed areas.

However, Beijing accuses Washington of meddling in the regional issues and deliberately stirring up tensions in the contested waters.

“The South China Sea, as the name indicates, is a sea area that belongs to China. And the sea from the Han dynasty, a long time ago where the Chinese people have been working and producing from the sea,” according to statements made in September by Chinese Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai, commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) North Sea Fleet.

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