Funny because Australia seems silent on Taiwan's 11 dash line claim that match China and control on taiping island. Also Vietnam's claim that is rough 80% of china's.
Yes, I almost forgot about that. This just showed the hypocrisy of the Australian's stance. It clearly is driven by USA. I mean, China's claimed is nothing new. So why didn't they reject China's claim earlier in the past 50 years or more? And as you said, China's claim follows that of Republic of China (ie: Taiwan). Yet another inconvient truth they seem to have a hard job remembering. And if course all the other Asian countries claim as well.
Australia is and should be able to act as it sees fit. This is the path they prefer. Trade relations will further degrade between Australia and China and so it should as well seeing as both have gone their way. The economic pain is going to be bad for Australians in the medium to long term but their thinking is walking a balance between economic benefits and perceived national security. This decision and blunder is theirs to make.
"Australia is and should be able to act as it sees fit."
This sounds so wrong to me. Are they acting as they see fit? Or is there pressure from elsewhere preventing them from acting in their own best interest?
As I said earlier, none of this makes any logical sense. National security? Give me strength, when was the last time Chinese troops set foot in Australia? All these Chinese bogeyman stuff is really uncalled for, just like the yellow perils of the 20th century. It's about time Australians treat China as a friend instead of the enemy.
How's sending Australian navy half way around the world, and make statement like this to poke at the eye of your biggest trading partner, who have not done you any harm, is somehow in Australia's interest?