South Korea and Australia adopted a joint statement on the South China Sea, a region that China claims as its own, underscoring that territorial disputes must be “resolved peacefully” in accordance with international law. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison jointly signed the statement after the summit talks at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday. “As major maritime trading nations, Australia and the ROK [Republic of Korea] recognize that the stability of the Indo–Pacific depends on adherence to international law in the maritime domain, including in the South China Sea,” the statement reads. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea are ongoing, with Beijing continuing to pursue its claims to 90 percent of the seas based on its so-called “nine-dash line.” The Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague dismissed Beijing’s claims to much of the South China Sea in 2016 in favor of other …