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Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung meets Australiam Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Canberra to sign defence and climate change deals. Photo: AP

Vietnam, Australia call for ‘self-restraint’, warn against force in South China Sea

Hanoi calls for code of conduct in disputed waters, while US vice-admiral suggests forming an Asean maritime patrol force

Vietnam and Australia today called for “self-restraint” in the South China Sea and warned against the unilateral use of force – an obvious reference to China’s increasingly aggressive presence that has stirred concerns across the disputed region.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung – who met Australian counterpart Tony Abbott in Canberra to sign deals on security, climate change and others – told the Australian parliament there was an imperative need to draw up a code of conduct for the South China Sea.

“We agreed ... [to] exercise self-restraint and refrain from actions that may escalate the tension in the region, including the use of force to unilaterally change the status quo,” Dung said.

We both support freedom of navigation by air and by sea in the South China Sea. We both deplore any unilateral change to the status quo
Australian PM Tony Abbott

Vietnam and other wary Southeast Asian countries have complained about China’s controversial policy of land reclamation on disputed isles in the South China Sea. Beijing in turn has said it is not seeking to overturn international order.

China claims about 90 per cent of the South China Sea, displaying its reach on official maps with a so-called nine-dash dotted line that stretches deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to parts of the potentially energy-rich waters that are crossed by key global shipping lanes.

This came as a top US navy official urged Southeast Asian nations to form a combined maritime force to patrol the disputed waters.

Last week, China expressed its anger at the Vietnamese head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for comments he made on the disputed South China Sea, rejecting Chinese claims based on the nine-dash line.

Australia’s largest trading partner is China, and the two countries sealed a landmark free-trade agreement in November that would significantly expand ties between them.

However, Abbott acknowledged a growing security relationship between Australia and Vietnam in recent years.

“We have both prospered in peace over the last 40 years because of the stability that our region has enjoyed and anything which disturbs that stability is something that we would mutually deplore and mutually work to ensure didn’t happen,” Abbott said.

“We both support freedom of navigation by air and by sea in the South China Sea. We both deplore any unilateral change to the status quo. We both think that disputes should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law,” he said.

Abbott said 120 Vietnamese military personnel would be trained in Australia and Vietnam would take part in joint military training exercises in Australia.

Dung said he and Abbott agreed to strengthen cooperation on security and defence in a range of areas, including experience and information sharing, English-language training and special forces cooperation.

“We agreed on the importance of the assurance of peace, stability, maritime security and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, in compliance with international law,” Dung said.

Meanwhile, the commander of the US Navy Seventh Fleet, Vice Admiral Robert Thomas, called on Southeast Asian nations to form a combined maritime force to patrol areas of the South China Sea where territorial tensions flare with China.

Countries could streamline cooperation on maritime security while respecting sovereignty and coastal space, as in the case of counter-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden, Thomas said yesterday at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia.

The US has reassured allies in the region it will back them against China’s assertions to about four-fifths of the sea.

“Perhaps easier said than done, from both a policy and organisation perspective, such an initiative could help crystallise the operational objectives in the training events that Asean navies want to pursue,” Thomas said at a panel session with navy chiefs.

“If Asean members were to take the lead in organising something along those lines, trust me, the US 7th Fleet would be ready to support.”

With additional reporting from Associated Press and Bloomberg

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