Australia will not bow to Chinese pressure to halt surveillance flights over disputed islands in the South China Sea at the center of rival claims between China and some of its neighbors, Defense Minister Marise Payne said this week.
The Australian Defence Department said Tuesday one of its aircraft had flown "a routine maritime patrol" over the South China Sea from Nov. 25 to Dec. 4, just as the U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander warned that a possible arms race could engulf the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade ships every year, a fifth of it heading to and from U.S. ports.