Professor Carl Thayer. (Photo: VOV)

Australia demanded that claimants follow the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to settle their disputes. Specifically, Australia rejected China’s insistence on holding “historic rights” to the “Four Sha” claim in the South China Sea and the drawing of “baselines” to connect its occupied rocks in the Paracel (Hoang Sa) and Spratly (Truong Sa) island chains. Australia also disapproved China’s territorial claims and development of artificial islands in the area and urged China to honor a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

In an interview with VOV, Carl Thayer, an Emeritus Professor at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said Australia has concerns over China’s threatening acts against smaller countries in Southeast Asia and its growing defense capability, which is also a threat to Australia. The two countries will hold a ministerial meeting this week, during which Australia plans to adopt a new policy so that it will have a unified voice with the US.   

Professor Thayer said Vietnam should continue effort to regain its sovereignty over Hoang Sa.