China urges Australia to stop provocations in the South China Sea

A ship in the South China Sea. File photoBEJING, Jun 7After the interception of an Australian military aircraft in the airspace in the South China Sea, China calls on Canberra to stop dangerous provocations, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Tan Kefei said on Tuesday. space in the South China Sea, which endangered the safety of the Australian aircraft and its crew. «The Australian P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft entered the airspace near the Chinese Xisha archipelago (Paracel Islands) on May 26 to conduct reconnaissance activities, it ignored repeated warnings from the Chinese side and continued to approach the airspace of the Xisha archipelago,» Tan Kefei said, quoted by the Chinese defense ministry. The representative of the PRC Ministry of Defense added that the Navy and Air Force of the Southern Zone AK) identified the Australian aircraft and issued a warning to leave the area. «The Australian aircraft posed a serious threat to China's sovereignty and security, and the Chinese military's response was professional, safe, rational and lawful,» he stressed. Tan Kefei urged Australia «immediately stop such dangerous provocative actions, strictly limit the actions of its naval and air forces, otherwise the country will be responsible for all the serious consequences arising from this.»China announced a change in US tactics in UkraineBeijing has been arguing with several countries in the Asia-Pacific region for decades over the territorial affiliation of a number of islands in the South China Sea, on the shelf of which significant hydrocarbon reserves have been discovered. We are talking primarily about the Xisha archipelago (Paracel Islands), the Spratly Islands, one of which is the island of Pag-asa (Titu), and Huangyan (Scarborough Reef). Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines are involved to one degree or another in this dispute. The situation in the region is often complicated by the passage of US warships here, which, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, violate international law and undermine China's sovereignty and security. Despite protests from Beijing, official Washington stated that the United States would «swim and fly» wherever international law permitted it. in the South China Sea. The court decided that the disputed territories of the Spratly (Nansha) archipelago are not islands and do not form an exclusive economic zone. Then Beijing replied that it does not consider the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague valid, does not recognize and does not accept it. under the pretext of implementing decisions of the UN Security Council