Former foreign minister Gareth Evans has suggested Australian warships be deployed to the South China Sea to protest against Beijing’s island-building activity in the contested waterway.
Last week in high-level talks with the United States, Australia agreed to increase naval cooperation in the South China Sea, but is so far rejecting suggestions it could join a possible US military flotilla through the area.
Mr Evans, who served as Labor foreign minister in the late 1980s and 1990s. said Australia could take its own action.