Sir,
I read with interest your Canberra Observed column, “China FTA: more about diplomacy than trade” (News Weekly, November 22, 2014). I agree entirely that both Australia and China have sought a free trade agreement mainly for diplomatic reasons.
On October 21, an article published in the People’s Daily in China, declared: “If Mao Zedong enabled Chinese people to ‘stand up’ in the world, and Deng Xiaoping made Chinese people rich, then Xi Jinping will make Chinese people powerful.”
President Xi Jinping has indeed made his people powerful by cheating and presenting the whole world with a fait accompli, namely by building artificial islands and military facilities on the Johnson South Reef, part of the disputed Spratly Islands chain in the Eastern Sea (South China Sea) claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei and mainland China.
In 1988, China invaded the Johnson South Reef of Vietnam, killing 70 of its sailors and then proceeding to occupy the area. But not until 18 months ago did the Chinese Communist Party decide to fill in the reef’s lagoon and transform the area, which covers only four square kilometres of actual land, to become a large island capable of holding a runway, port facilities and military garrisons.
This act clearly violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which explicitly states that the act by any claimant to build any infrastructure in disputed territories, while the dispute is yet to be settled, is illegal.
Professors Alan Dupont, Rory Metcalf and Hugh White, on the ABC television program Lateline (November 3, 2014), have raised their concerns about the vital lifeline for Australian export and direct implications for Australia’s security and economic interests.
Furthermore, by creating artificial islands all the way through the Eastern Sea on reefs and maritime features which do not belong to them, the Chinese Communist Party could provoke a clash that could trigger wider regional conflict.
Australia should pro-actively support those South-East Asian nations coming together to resist “China’s land grabs” and not take its eyes off the ball in the Eastern Sea.
Regional conflicts or cold wars are certainly big risks, and Australia, while not taking the side of any nation in the dispute, should intervene and demand that China halt its actions, which might lead to more tension in the disputed areas; stop violating UNCLOS; and stop its recalcitrant behaviour and provocative activity.
Dr Cuong Trong Bui OAM,
Vietnamese Community in Australia, QC
Mt Gravatt, Qld
