As China emerges as a great world power, it is important for Beijing to help reinforce and abide by basic international law, US President Barack Obama said today.
Obama made the remarks during his joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott after the two leaders held talks at Oval Office of the White House.
"We both agree that it's important to continue to see China prosper and rise, but what's also important is that as China emerges as this great world power, that it also is helping to reinforce and abide by basic international law and norms," Obama said.
"We had an opportunity to discuss the work that we've tried to do in the region with organisations like ASEAN to maintain basic rules of the road when it comes to maritime issues in the South China Sea," he said.
Both the United States and Australia have enormous trade relationships with China, Obama noted.
The two leaders, Obama said, discussed a wide range of issues.
"Many of them focused on the importance of the Asia-Pacific region. We discussed the security cooperation that is continuing to deepen between our two nations as treaty allies," Obama said.
"I should note that Australia, under the prime minister's leadership, is increasing its defense budget, even under tough times, recognising that we all have to make sure that we're doing our fair share to help maintain global order and security," he said.
The two leaders also discussed the strong commercial ties between the two countries.
"Both of us have been very invested in trying to bring the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, to a successful outcome. Negotiations continue, but Australia has been a very constructive partner in that process," Obama said.
