Australia welcomes Asean leaders with fresh maritime security funding

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Philippines’ Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo shake hands as they attend the Maritime Cooperation Forum of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, in Melbourne, Australia March 4, 2024. REUTERS

SYDNEY — Australia said on Monday Indo-Pacific and Southeast Asian countries are facing serious defense threats as it set aside more funds for a maritime security pact with Asean countries during a summit with the Southeast Asian bloc.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia would invest A$64 million ($41.8 million) over four years, including A$40 million in new funding, which would contribute to the security and prosperity of the region, consistent with the priorities of Southeast Asian countries.

“We face destabilizing, provocative and coercive actions including unsafe conduct at sea and in the air,” Wong said in a speech at the summit, adding free and open sea lanes in the South China Sea was critical for the region’s trade.

READ: China, Myanmar likely high on the agenda in Asean-Australia summit

“What happens in the South China Sea, in the Taiwan Strait, in the Mekong subregion, across the Indo-Pacific, affects us all.”

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s claims had no legal basis.

Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo said the South China Sea was of strategic importance that holds a promising future.

“However, such future will only be possible if nations in the region resolved to uphold cooperation, over confrontation and diplomacy over the use or the threat of use of force,” Manalo said in his speech.

READ: Philippines foreign minister urges China: ‘Stop harassing us’

The Philippines is ramping up efforts to counter what it describes as China’s “aggressive activities” in the South China Sea, which has also become a flashpoint for Chinese and U.S. tensions around naval operations.

Manalo said the arbitration is part of international law and nations in the region must stand firmly together in opposing actions that contradict or are inconsistent with it.

Australia last year said it would conduct more joint patrols with Philippines in the South China Sea.

Melbourne is hosting the summit from Monday to Wednesday to mark 50 years of Australia becoming the first external partner of ASEAN.

($1 = 1.5323 Australian dollars)