Australia Joins US In Pushback Against China's 'Illegal' Expansionist Claims In South China Sea

In a move set to irk China, Australia has joined the United States (US) in out-right rejection of China's expansionist territorial claims in the vast South China Sea as illegal, reports Times of India.

Officiating its rejection of China's claims, Australia's permanent mission in the United Nations (UN) wrote a letter calling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s claims in crucial international waters as inconsistent withstanding international law also known as the "1982 UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS)".

The letter by Australia categorically mentioned that the CCP's claims did not adhere to the rules on baselines, maritime zones and also on the classification of features.

In its assertion, Australia went as far as to state, "There is no legal basis for China to draw straight baselines connecting the outermost points of maritime features or 'island groups' in the South China Sea, including around the 'Four Sha' or continental' or 'outlaying' archipelagos."

Australia's pushback against China on the matter comes just days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had on 13 July slammed Chinese unilateral claims on the region as "completely unlawful", also comparing its campaign on the subject to an act of bullying.

It should be noted that the South China Sea comprises of three archipelagos, on all of which China has been aggressively staking its claim over the recent years.