Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has reiterated that the Turnbull government has a legitimate interest in maintaining respect of international law in the South China Sea.
She said two thirds of Australia's trade passes through the South China Sea and as such has a very deep national interest in maintaining peace and stability in that region.
"We don't take sides on the competing territorial claims in the South China Sea but we have acknowledged that land reclamation and construction activity that's undertaken by China and other claimants raises tensions in the region," she told journalists after a meeting with her Japanese counterpart in Sydney.
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