China defends island construction after Australian concern

A Foreign Ministry spokesman on Tuesday defended China's island construction in the South China Sea and urged Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to be "fair" on the issue after she indicated she intended to raise it on a Beijing visit this week.

Bishop, visiting from Tuesday to Thursday, told reporters she will seek clarification from her counterpart about how China intends to use the reclaimed islands, including whether Beijing will grant access to other countries.

"China's construction of the islands aims to provide more public good to the international community, facilitating search and rescue and medical operations," spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news briefing. "With the completion of the facilities, the international community can have access to these services whenever they need."

Hong said China is entitled to deploy self-defence facilities on the islands, a right granted by international law, and which will not affect other countries' freedom of navigation and overflight.

"Australia should take an objective and fair stance on the South China Sea issue and refrain from actions that undermine regional peace and stability," the spokesman added.

Asked about Australia's support for the Philippines bringing the South China Sea dispute to a Hague tribunal, Hong said the Philippines' unilateral filing of the case does not comply with international law and violates China-Philippine consensus as well as commitments in the the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

"China will never accept international arbitration and Australia should not selectively dodge this fact," he told the journalists. Endi