Joe Biden promises 'secure sea lanes and open skies' in pointed riposte to China

America will “ensure the sea lanes are secure, and the skies remain open” in the Pacific, the US vice-president, Joe Biden, has vowed in a pointed riposte to Chinese territorial ambitions in the South China Sea.

In a wide-ranging foreign policy speech in Sydney on Wednesday, Biden paid tribute to the US-Australian alliance, describing it as “a partnership that reminds us what is best in ourselves”.

But his most pointed remarks were clearly directed towards China, which has been building and weaponising artificial islands in the South China Sea in an effort to exclusively claim the surrounding maritime territory as its own.

China claims its control of the waters – inside the so-called nine-dash line – dates back to ancient times, marked in historic 600-year-old mariners’ books. But last week in The Hague the permanent court of arbitration ruled there was no legal basis for China’s historic claim, a decision China has furiously rejected.

Biden told his Australian audience the US was, and would remain, a committed power and presence in the Pacific.

Quoting Barack Obama, he said of US involvement in the Pacific region: “we are all in”.

“We are not going anywhere. And that is vital because our presence in the region ... is essential to maintaining peace and stability, without which the economic growth and prosperity I believe would falter.

“America is the linchpin and we want to ensure the sea lanes are secure, the skies remain open. That is how to maintain the free flow of commerce that is the life-blood of this region. This the only way our nations will be able to grow and succeed together.”

Biden spoke of his longstanding friendship with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and said he had told him that the US would not be dissuaded from its role in the Pacific. Biden cited statistics on the size of the US military, saying America spent more on defence than the next eight largest militaries combined.

“Without secure sea lanes and open skies, commerce cannot thrive. Without peace and stability between our nations, among our nations, cooperation can’t flourish. Without basic human security, girls and boys across the region will never have the chance to achieve their full potential.”

“Even as we continue to address the full range of persistent challenges, the US has kept, and will keep, laser focus on the future of the Asia Pacific. We’re not doing anyone any favours, it’s overwhelmingly in our interest.”

The vice-president said the US and Australian militaries, intimately allied since the end of the second world war, would continue to cooperate closely, and discussed preserving security in the Pacific in the same sentence as he did the fight against Islamic extremism in the Middle East.

He said the US would maintain its “enduring commitment to ensure there is no daylight, no daylight between our fighting forces, whether we’re taking the fight to al-Qaeda, or Isil or Daesh, as they say in the Arab countries, or ... any people who threaten the safety of our people; whether it’s standing together to maintain peace in Asia; or whether we’re working side by side to provide humanitarian assistance in the Pacific islands. Australia and the United States have each other’s backs”.

Biden, in a loquacious mood on the last day of his Australian visit, even quoted Australian author Patrick White in discussing America and Australia’s shared determination to maintain influence in, and access to, the Pacific.

“The map? I will first make it,” he said, from White’s Voss.

Biden spoke at Sydney’s Paddington town hall, the stage behind him festooned with 10 flags – five US and five Australian – and four more massive ones draping the walls of the Victorian free classical hall.

In his audience were three former Australian prime ministers, seated together – Bob Hawke, John Howard and Tony Abbott – to whom he paid tribute for their custodianship of the US-Australian alliance.

Biden took to the podium just minutes after Donald Trump was confirmed as the Republican party nominee for president of the United States, and issued an assurance-cum-warning about November’s forthcoming poll.

“Don’t worry about our election. Don’t worry about our election. The better angels in America will prevail.”

“At a time like this, when the forces of xenophobia and demagoguery are being trumpeted around the world and seek to erode what we hold most dear, we have to remember who we are as Australians and Americans and reflect our best selves back to the world.”

Reaching back to his mother’s Irish roots, Biden quoted W.B. Yeats, saying of the tumult currently seizing the world, and perhaps nodding to the latest political development in his home country: “All changed, changed utterly. A terrible beauty is born.”