U.S. Vice President Joe Biden left some none-too-subtle hints that America would intervene in the South China Sea dispute if needed, and potentially laid the groundwork for a request that Australia join the fray also.
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U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Australia remains the key to the core of Washington’s Asia-Pacific pivot. Biden will deliver a major…
The two top officials discussed conflicts in the Middle East and agreed on expanding Canberra’s military mission in Iraq to include training for the Arab country’s police force in the fight against the Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri group. We’ve made good on that promise and continue to make good on that promise. And I assure you, the United States is going nowhere.
Turnbull noted that neither Australia nor the United States is a claimant to any of the reefs and other contested features in the South China Sea, which are disputed among the governments of China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. “When he asked me why we were so engaged, I pointed out we are a Pacific nation”. We are a Pacific power.
‘Our presence is essential to maintaining peace and stability, without which the economic growth and prosperity I believe would falter’.
However, he added: “We not only share the same values, we understand that talk is cheap”.
This language points to escalating war preparations.
Immigration is also a hot topic in the U.S., where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a similar ban and wants a wall built along the Mexico border.
Before meeting Turnbull, Biden visited Sydney’s main naval base.
Biden told a group of Australian business people yesterday that the deal faces barriers in both countries. While in Australia, he met with the nation’s leaders and troops in a bid to reassert America’s standing as a so-called Pacific power in the region. But Manila and its allies led by the United States have warned China to stop its reclamation activities, particularly on Scarborough Shoal. We are going nowhere.
Biden’s visit comes amid tensions in the region following a UN-backed tribunal’s ruling against China’s claims in the South China Sea.
The entire media conference was framed in terms of underscoring a military and wartime alliance. Biden is in Australia as part of a…
China claims most of the South China Sea, which is rich in energy and fishing resources.
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The Philippines and Japan are embroiled in simmering territorial disputes with China.
