ASIA PACIFIC

Australia conducts surveillance flight in South China Sea; move could focus attention on Japan

The ongoing land reclamation by China on Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan, Philippines, is seen in this aerial photo taken though a glass window of a Philippine military plane in May 2015. | REUTERS

By Jesse Johnson
Staff Writer

Dec 16, 2015

Australia has conducted a "freedom of navigation" flight near artificial islands China is building in the South China Sea. Analysts said the move could focus attention on Japan's own decisions in the region.

In a radio transmission recorded on Nov. 25 during a reporting assignment in the South China Sea and released Tuesday by the British Broadcasting Corp., the pilot of a Royal Australian Air Force surveillance plane can be heard addressing the Chinese Navy.

"China Navy, China Navy. We are an Australian aircraft exercising international freedom of navigation rights, in international airspace in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Convention, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Over," the pilot says in the recording.

Australia conducts surveillance flight in South China Sea; move could focus attention on Japan

In your social network

In your inbox

In your social network

In your inbox