Australia-China naval exercises still on despite US patrol in South China Sea

Australia and China are set to proceed with planned joint military exercises next week, with the Coalition indicating the US “freedom of navigation” patrol through the South China Sea that angered Beijing has had no effect on the timing.

Washington infuriated Beijing by sailing the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of the disputed Spratly archipelago on Tuesday in a challenge to China’s territorial claims.

Australia – which responded to the American patrol by declaring its “strong support” for freedom of navigation – faces strategic challenges in balancing its long-standing alliance with the US alongside its interest in bolstering ties with China, its biggest trading partner and a rising global influence.

Australia’s defence minister, Marise Payne, confirmed on Thursday that planned military exercises with China were set to proceed. This was a rejection of some media reports that they had been delayed.

“HMAS ships Stuart and Arunta will visit Zhanjiang, in Guangdong province, China, soon during their north Asia deployment,” she said.

“The Royal Australian Navy has a long history of engagement with regional navies and regularly conducts port visits and exercises, including in China.

“There have been no changes or delays to the schedule of the HMAS Arunta and HMAS Stuart since the United States activity in the South China Sea on 27 October 2015.”

But in a sign that the government was keeping its options open for future patrol operations, Payne added that Australia had “a legitimate interest in the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law, unimpeded trade and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea”.

“As they do now, Australian vessels and aircraft will continue to exercise rights under international law to freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight,” she said.

Peter Jennings, a former deputy secretary for strategy at the Department of Defence, said it was not unusual for Australia to conduct exercises with China.

“They tend to be at the smaller end of naval exercises, which reflects the fact that while we have a defence relationship with China, it’s not especially well developed and by no means as close as we have with many other countries,” said Jennings, who is now the executive director the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a thinktank.

“They’re important things to do. It reflects an attempt to try to develop a normalised defence cooperation relationship with China.”

Jennings said Australia should consider conducting a US-style freedom of navigation mission in the South China Sea “at some stage”.

“We have a critical interest in that particular part of the world because around two-thirds of our merchandise travels through it,” he said. “That’s not just up to China; it’s also to Japan and South Korea, so this [issue] is not something on which Australia can really afford to take a low profile.”

The rise of China is key strategic challenge for Australia. The government has sought to bolster its economic ties with China, striking a free trade agreement that triggered a political dispute in Canberra this year, but also joined the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country trade pact that does not include China.

The US president, Barack Obama, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, addressed their countries’ plans for the Asia-Pacific region when they visited Australia in November last year for the G20 summit.

Obama called on China to pursue peaceful development and adhere to the same rules as other countries, while Xi used a speech to the Australian parliament to assert China’s dominant position in the region while declaring it would seek to resolve disputes peacefully.