SYDNEY, Australia—US and Australian troops plan to step up training so they are fully prepared to answer challenges in the Pacific, US Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday amid rising tensions over Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea.
Speaking in Sydney after meeting Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Biden said the two nations were a “genuine brotherhood” committed to “making sure the sea lanes are open and the skies are free for navigation.”
“They are the life bloodlines of commerce and the economic growth worldwide,” Biden said in the wake of last week’s ruling by a UN-backed tribunal against Beijing’s claims in the disputed waters.
Beijing asserts sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, despite rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbors—most notably US ally the Philippines, which took the case to the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration.
The United States, like Australia, has no claims of its own in the South China Sea, but insists that all shipping has a right to pass through seas it regards as international waters.
“We also discussed the steps that Australia and the United States are taking so our troops can train more together and increase our interoperability so that we are fully prepared to respond to any challenges, any challenges, in the Pacific with a united front,” Biden said.
“It’s important we stand together,” he added, as he stressed that the United States was a Pacific power and intended to remain so.
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Beijing has informed Manila about the test landing of civilian aircraft on Mischief Reef, which the Chinese have grabbed and converted into an artificial island.
He said it was a defense attaché who informed him of the test landings a day before the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration junked China’s “9-dash line” as illegal and said it was no basis for its claims to most of the South China Sea.
He said Beijing even sent an official letter informing Manila of the test landings.
China has repeatedly said it will not honor the arbitration ruling in favor of the Philippines and warned it will continue to build facilities on the artificial islands. But Manila and its allies led by the United States have warned China to stop its reclamation activities, particularly on Scarborough Shoal.
