SYDNEY: Australia is considering joint patrols with Indonesia in the disputed South China Sea, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Tuesday, in a move set to irk Beijing. “We have agreed to explore options to increase maritime cooperation and of course that would include coordinated activities in the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea,” Bishop told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Beijing asserts sovereignty over almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea, despite rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbours – most notably the Philippines, which took the case to the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration. Unlike some Southeast Asian neighbours, Jakarta has long maintained it has no maritime disputes with China in the South China Sea and does not contest ownership of reefs or islets there. Bishop said the Australian navy had already conducted joint exercises in the South China Sea with India and the US as “a regular part of what our navy does and it’s also part of our engagement in the region.”--AFP

Source: New Strait Times November 01, 2016 01:13 UTC