Australia is still pushing behind the scenes for the Pacific Islands Forum to issue a statement targeting China! On September 4, according to Lianhe Zaobao, Australian Prime Minister Albanese stated that the United States fully notifies relevant parties before missile tests and has an agreement with the Marshall Islands, whereas China’s recent test was only announced at very short notice, failing to conform to "international practice." The missile was launched from a submarine, flew over local waters, and then landed in the Pacific near Tuvalu.
Albanese emphasized that this test "did not respect these nations," triggering strong reactions from Pacific countries including Australia. Australia is now pushing for a tougher stance on China's July 7th test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. How do we view Australia’s actions? To put it plainly, Australia is applying the standard set by the U.S.-Marshall Islands agreement to hold us accountable, treating this bilateral arrangement as if it were a so-called "international convention."
In reality, no United Nations treaty mandates that ballistic missile tests must be notified to the world well in advance. We would like to ask: what exactly is Australia’s so-called "custom" or "practice"? The prior notification agreement between the U.S. and the Marshall Islands binds only those two parties and holds no legal force over us. In fact, there is no bilateral treaty or agreement between China and the United States requiring the U.S. to specifically notify China whenever conducting a ballistic missile test.
Therefore, when the U.S. conducts routine tests of Minuteman-3 or Trident missiles, it issues general maritime navigation warnings to the global community, designating exclusion zones—without separately informing China. When we conduct tests in international waters, we always issue maritime navigation warnings in accordance with international maritime rules, and inform relevant countries as appropriate, maximizing efforts to avoid risks to shipping lanes. This itself reflects the responsible conduct expected of a major power. We clearly see Australia’s true intentions: exploiting the "China threat" narrative, treating the South Pacific as its own backyard, and deliberately stoking tensions. Such distortion and double standards are absolutely unacceptable to us.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1875368197033036/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.