Australia for `peaceful` end |
Calling on “all claimants” to resolve the Doklam standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in Bhutanese territory, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the ongoing tension was the “subject of discussion” during her meetings with India`s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley. Australia`s position is that any territorial disputes should be resolved peacefully between the claimant countries, Ms. Bishop said and added they don`t want to see any escalation of tensions which could lead to a miscalculation or misjudgment.Distinguishing between land boundary disputes and the maritime disputes China has with countries in the South China Sea, through which two-thirds of Australia`s trade passes, Ms. Bishop said, in the case of maritime disputes, we said it should be subjected to arbitration under UNCLOS, if necessary. Land disputes should be resolved peacefully between the competing claimants .”Ms. Bishop said her discussions with Mr. Modi had highlighted future defence cooperation between India and Australia that recently completed a bilateral naval exercise AUSINDEX and they spoke about training exercises between their troops as well.
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