Malaysia, Australia to discuss China moves

Activists chant anti-China slogans as they hold posters reading “Gac Ma, our country will never forget” during a rally in Hanoi on Monday to mark the anniversary of a 1988 battle in the Spratly Islands. — AP

Malaysian defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Monday he will meet his Australian counterpart next week to discuss China’s military buildup in the disputed South China Sea and hold talks with fellow claimants the Philippines and Vietnam.

China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

Beijing is feeling public pressure at home to show it can protect its claims to the waters after the United States began conducting “freedom of navigation” operations near islands where China has been carrying out controversial reclamation work and stationing advanced weapons.

Mr Hussein said he would meet Australian defence minister Marise Payne to ensure efforts are made to “hold China to their promise of not placing military assets in the area”.

“If the reports we’ve received from various sources regarding the buildup and placement of military assets in the Spratlys are true — this forces us in a pushback against China,” Mr Hussein said.

Meanwhile, activists chanted anti-China slogans in the Vietnamese capital on Monday to mark the anniversary of a 1988 battle in the Spratly Islands, a rare act of protest over an issue that has come to dog relations between Hanoi and Beijing.

In 1988 China launched an attack on Gac Ma Island — one of the larger Spratly Islands which was formerly under Vietnamese military control — killing 64 Vietnamese soldiers in the last violent conflict.