Australian PM uses US visit to warn Beijing against the trap of conflict over South China Sea

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on China on Monday to avoid actions in pursuit of territorial claims in Asia that could make conflict with the United States more likely.

Speaking in Washington ahead of Tuesday’s scheduled meeting with President Barack Obama, Turnbull said Chinese President Xi Jinping had spoken of his desire to avoid the so-called Thucydides Trap - an academic theory that sees a risk of rivalry between a rising and an established power turning to conflict.

“If avoiding the Thucydides Trap is a core objective of China's strategy, as President Xi insists it is, then we would hope that China's actions will be carefully calculated to make conflict less likely not more,” Turnbull told the Centre for Strategic and International studies think tank.

He said China should be seeking to reassure neighbors and build confidence about its intentions.

“The legitimacy of claims to reefs and shoals should be a secondary consideration when that objective is focused on,” Turnbull said, referring to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, where Beijing has been building artificial islands to extend its reach.

Turnbull said rival claims should be settled under international law and referred to a case the Philippines has brought in the arbitration court in The Hague over its competing claims with China.