China slams Aus over military exercises
China has criticised Australia for participating in joint military exercises with the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea.
Last week, The Royal Australian Navy's destroyer HMAS Sydney participated in a guided missile frigate with the Philippine navy, involving aircrafts from both the US and the Philippines.
While China's coast guard continues to clash with vessels from the Philippines over the past 18 months, several countries, including Australia have joined military exercises with the Philippines in the waters.
However, China has accused Australia, the United States and the Philippines of 'creating trouble.'
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the US was using the Philippines as a 'pawn' against China, and accusing Manila of 'flexing' military muscles which will 'only backfire'.
'The US and other countries outside the region have patched up small groupings in the South China Sea to stoke confrontation in the name of co-operation, flex military muscles in the name of freedom, and create trouble in the name of upholding order,' he told reporters in Beijing.
'They are the biggest source of risks undermining the peace and stability in the South China Sea.'
While Australia hasn't responded to China's stance, the Department of Defence said the drills are a chance to enhance mutual understanding and interoperability between the countries' armed forces.
'Australia and our partners share a commitment to upholding the right to freedom of navigation and overflight, other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace, and other maritime rights under international law, particularly in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,' it said.
'By training and operating together, forces can build upon shared tactics, techniques, and procedures to enhance interoperability and readiness to respond to shared security challenges.
'This is the second MCA involving the Australian Defence Force this year, following HMAS Hobart's participation in a multilateral MCA on 6 February with Japan, the Philippines and the United States.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
22 minutes ago
- Fox News
Foreign policy experts rip Tim Walz's claim that China has 'moral authority' in Middle East conflict
Former vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., is facing criticism after claiming China could be the voice of "moral authority" in the Israel-Iran conflict. During a "What's Next: Conversations on the Path Forward" event hosted by the Center for American Progress (CAP) last week, Walz responded to a question from former Biden White House advisor, Neera Tanden, about the "escalatory" nature of the strikes between the two countries. "Now, who is the voice in the world that can negotiate some type of agreement in this? Who holds the moral authority? Who holds the ability to do that? Because we are not seen as a neutral actor, and we maybe never were," Walz said of the United States' role in deescalating tensions in the Middle East. As the United States weighs striking Iran and war in the Middle East rages on, Danielle Pletka, a distinguished senior fellow in Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), told Fox News Digital that Walz's comments are "ignorance on display." According to Walz, the United States once attempted "to be somewhat of the arbitrator" in the Middle East, but Americans must face the reality that the "neutral actor" with the "moral authority" to lead negotiations in the Middle East "might be the Chinese." Walz didn't elaborate on why China would be that world leader. "It's so staggering to me that Tim Walz was within a heartbeat of the presidency," Pletka said, before adding, "We don't need a neutral player here," and urging him to "stick to local politics." Andy Keiser, senior fellow at the conservative National Security Institute and former senior advisor on the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News Digital that someone should "remind Governor Walz that China is far from a moral authority on much of anything," and said China is committing "cultural genocide." "The Chinese government has reportedly arbitrarily detained more than a million Muslims in reeducation camps since 2017," according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). "Most of the people who have been detained are Uyghur, a predominantly Turkic-speaking ethnic group primarily in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang." In addition to the detentions, "Uyghurs in the region have been subjected to intense surveillance, forced labor, and involuntary sterilizations, among other rights abuses," according to the CFR. According to Human Rights Watch, President Xi Jinping has "detained human rights defenders, tightened control over civil society, media, and the internet, and deployed invasive mass surveillance technology" in Xinjiang and Tibet, which the human rights watchdog likened to "crimes against humanity." "I would strongly beg to differ that China has a moral authority on much in the world," Keiser said, and added, "I would not see them as a neutral arbiter here." "Obviously, we are not going to be a neutral broker between a terrorist and a democratic state," Pletka said. "That's just not how it works. You threatened to kill the President of the United States, but we're then meant to think of you in a balanced way with the state of Israel, our most important ally in the Middle East?" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News' Bret Baier on Monday that President Donald Trump remains a target of the Iranians. "They want to kill him. He's enemy No. 1." "I don't know how anybody could have said what [Walz] said about the role that China plays. The idea that there is some neutral interlocutor in this world, that anybody is an 'honest burger' is nothing other than grad school silliness," Pletka said. Pletka added that "Of course, China can't play that role. China is an authoritarian communist [state] that is supporting Russia in its war on Ukraine, that is threatening Taiwan, that has broken its word over Hong Kong." And she said, "This is not a playground in which you need somebody who can talk to both Bobby and Billy about why it is you don't smack your friends." "The idea that it should be reduced to something where you have an arbiter who sees the arguments on both sides, no. This is a situation where there's a right and a wrong, and there's a winner and a loser. That's how it should be, by the way, because Iran has fashioned itself as an enemy, not just to the state of Israel, but to the United States." Nikki Haley – former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, who sounded off on China's threat to the United States on the campaign trail – was quick to criticize Walz's viral comments last week. "This is absolute insanity. Democrats think that we need the Chinese to be the negotiators between Iran's nuclear production and Israel…God bless Tim Walz. Totally tone deaf," Haley posted on X.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump says he will 'probably' extend upcoming TikTok deadline
US President Trump tells reporters he will "probably" extend the TikTok deadline, providing the wildly popular social media platform owned by China's ByteDance additional time to resolve concerns about national security risks and avoid a ban, according to AP News. Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley joins Catalysts with Brad Smith to take a look at the latest as the TikTok ban deadline approaches. Check out Yahoo Finance's interview with X CEO Linda Yaccarino here, as well as other content from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity here. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. Just days ahead of the deadline for Bite Dance to divest from Tick Tock or see the app banned in the US, President Trump says he's open to extending the deadline yet again here. The president telling reporters, he probably will extend the deadline if Chinese president she agrees. Speaking with Yahoo Finance executive editor, Brian Sozzi today at Can Lions, Linda Yaccarino, ex-CEO, voice support for the measure. We don't believe any social media platform should be banned. We don't think it's good for the ecosystem. And, and look at us, you know, protecting free speech around the world. And we hope and, uh, uh, you know, we hope that they'll work things out and it'll be part of the ecosystem. Joining me now with more, we've got Yahoo Finance tech editor, Dan Howley. So, what would the extension mean for Tik Tok? Basically that they get yet another last minute reprieve. They originally went offline in January during the transition from the Biden to Trump administration. At that point, Biden had basically gone hands off with Tik Tok. Trump was able to extend that deadline until April. That deadline came and went. He then extended the deal timeline again. And now he's doing it a third time because they haven't been able to get a deal together with who would purchase the stake in Tik Tok as Bite Dance divest from it. That's the key thing is that Bite Dance, a Chinese owned company, divest Tik Tok itself. And whether or not China will sign off on that, that's also a major part of that. Obviously, Brad, you're pointing out that Trump had said he believes that President Xi would go ahead and do that. But that still remains up in the air. A lot of this seems to be tied to the ongoing trade negotiations. There were prior reports that the President Xi was open to that kind of deal. But then once those tariffs came out, said, that's kind of off the table now until we figure this out. So, really, this is going to continue to be, I think, a back and forth. We'll see how many times this can be extended. I think that's also another question that a lot of people are asking is how long can this possibly get kicked down the road? At this point, it seems as though it can just keep on going every few months. But really, I think at a certain point, there needs to be some kind of agreement as to whether or not someone takes a stake in Tik Tok. There have been plenty of names bandied about, Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Mr. Beast for some reason. And so these are all kind of the questions that we're wondering. Still, 170 million users in the US, it's nothing to sneeze at obviously. Tik Tok, huge, huge social media company. I don't think Linda Yaccarino, though, would be truly upset if Tik Tok went offline. That just means less competition, same thing with Mark Zuckerberg and Meta. Yeah, perhaps would be more alarmed with the precedent that it might set. But I understand, of course, as we do know that X and Elon Musk have had a cozier relationship to the Trump administration than Tik Tok over time here. We'll continue to watch that. Dan, thanks so much for breaking this down. Yes. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
China's Rare Earth Magnet Exports Slump in May, Especially to US
(Bloomberg) -- Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks global trade. Sign up here. Security Concerns Hit Some of the World's 'Most Livable Cities' One Architect's Quest to Save Mumbai's Heritage From Disappearing JFK AirTrain Cuts Fares 50% This Summer to Lure Riders Off Roads NYC Congestion Toll Cuts Manhattan Gridlock by 25%, RPA Reports Taser-Maker Axon Triggers a NIMBY Backlash in its Hometown Chinese exports of rare earth magnets slumped further in May, with shipments to the US showing an especially steep drop due to the trade war with Washington. Rare earth minerals, and the products that use the elements, have been at the center of the dispute since early April, when China imposed export controls in retaliation for punitive tariffs levied on Chinese goods. The two countries have since sought to reset relations, culminating in a meeting in London in early June, which prompted US President Donald Trump to declare that issues around rare earths had been resolved. China accounts for about 90% of the world's rare earth products, most of which are magnets, and whether it allows supplies to flow more freely after the agreement reached in London will be a key focus for governments and markets in the weeks and months to come. Chinese customs data on Friday showed the extent of the impact on supplies of rare earth magnets in particular, an item vital for high-tech industries from carmakers to defense contractors. The controls have affected sales to all countries, with China's total exports roughly halving in April, and then halving again in May, to 1,238 tons. That comes to about $60 million, the lowest-value month in data going back to 2015, barring February 2020 and the onset of the pandemic. The US portion by volume in May was just 46 tons, less than one-tenth of the magnets it imported in March. Other countries including Vietnam, host to a number of Chinese companies, and Germany saw their supplies hold up much better. Those two countries were the top destinations last month, accounting for 19% and 17% of sales, respectively. --With assistance from James Mayger. Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
