On Wednesday, naval vessels from New Zealand and Australia sailed through the Taiwan Strait, part of the South China Sea, a move Australia’s Department of Defence said showed the country’s commitment to an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own, says it alone exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the strait.
Both the US and Taiwan say the strait – a major trade route through which about half of global container ships pass – is an international waterway.
Australia has “consistently pressed China on peace and stability in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait”, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday.
“We have welcomed the resumption of leader and military level dialogue between the US and China,” Wong said, according to a transcript.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, despite overlapping maritime claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, angering its neighbours.