Land reclamation to expand in South China Sea islands: expert
(Global Times)08:10, February 06, 2018
China is concentrating on civil - not military - construction on islands in the South China Sea and will expand land reclamation, Chinese experts said on Monday.
"Most of the construction on islands in the South China Sea were completed in 2015 and the pace then slowed. Civilian facility construction is the major focus of the South China Sea islands building and the portion of defense deployment is relatively small," Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the National Institute for the South China Sea, told the Global Times.
China has almost finished transforming seven reefs in the South China Sea into "island fortresses," and the move is to "dominate" the South China Sea, according to an exclusive report published in the Philippine newspaper the Inquirer on Sunday.
The size of some South China Sea islands will be further expanded in future through more dredging in the South China Sea region, Chen said.The relationship between China and other Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines, has becalmed in recent years, providing a golden opportunity for China to upgrade these areas, he said.
Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told the Strait Times last week the South China Sea was "much more calm now," and that Singapore will help broker talks on a maritime code of conduct.
Balakrishnan's remarks reflect China's confident cooperation with Association of Southeast Asian Nations on maintaining regional peace and stability, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman GengShuang said on Monday.
China and the Philippines are enjoying good terms as President Rodrigo Duterte maintains a friendly policy toward China, Chen said. "But there is still some domestic pressure that urges Duterte to take a tough stance on China and the South China Sea issue," Chen said.
Foreign media liked to hype China's construction in the South China Sea as they try to make excuses to prevent China's activities in this region, Zhuang Guotu, head of Xiamen University's Southeast Asian Studies Center, told the Global Times.
"China has the right to build whatever it needs within its territory," Zhuang said.
China's military deployment in the South China Sea region was "not for military expansion," but to defend its security and interests, he said.
Zhuang and Chen warned the US is the biggest threat to stability in the South China Sea.
"The US, Australia, Japan and other allies will constantly provoke China over this issue and that will incite other neighboring South China Sea countries to do the same," Zhuang said.
China's construction projects in the region covered about 290,000 square meters in 2017, including new facilities for underground storage, administrative buildings and large radar, according to a report released in December on the nanhai.haiwainet.cn website run by the National Marine Data and Information Service and People's Daily Overseas edition.
The guided missile destroyer USS Hopper came within 12 nautical miles of Huangyan Island in January and Chinese missile destroyer Huangshan immediately drove it away, China News Service English service reported in January.
Vietnam protests over Chinese military drill in South China Sea
Reuters Staff
BEIJING/HANOI (Reuters) - China urged Vietnam on Friday to take a calm and rational view of its military drills in the South China Sea, after Vietnam expressed opposition, as tension between the neighbors worsens over the disputed strategic waterway.
China has appeared uneasy at Vietnam’s efforts to rally Southeast Asian countries over the busy waterway as well as at its neighbor’s growing defense ties with the United States, Japan and India.
In July, under pressure from Beijing, Vietnam suspended oil drilling in offshore waters that are also claimed by China.
Vietnam was deeply concerned about the exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin area, at the north end of the South China Sea, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement, but did not make clear what drills were being referred to.
“Vietnam proposes China to cease and refrain from repeating acts that complicate the situation in the East Sea,” Hang said, employing Vietnam’s name for the South China Sea.
All foreign activities in Vietnamese waters must comply with Vietnamese and international laws, she added.
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry conveyed its position to a Chinese embassy representative on Thursday, the statement added, without saying when China’s announcement was made or when any drill might take place.
In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the drills were routine annual exercises and were being carried out in the northwestern part of the South China Sea.
“The relevant sea is under China’s jurisdiction,” she told a daily news briefing on Friday, adding that China had the right to carry out such drills in the waters there.
“We hope the relevant side can calmly and rationally view it,” she added.
Last month, the Maritime Safety Administration of China’s southern province of Hainan, which oversees the South China Sea, said military drills would take place south of the province and east of Vietnam from Aug. 29 until Sept. 4.
There would be live fire drills around the Paracel Islands, which Vietnam claims, until Sunday, it added.
China claims nearly all the South China Sea, through which an estimated $3 trillion in international trade passes each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also have claims.
China and Malaysia agree on military cooperation in the South China Sea
NajibRazak signs defence deal during Beijing visit and writes editorial saying former colonlial should not lecture countries they once exploited
China and Malaysia have said their navies will cooperate more in the politically sensitiveSouth China Seain an agreement signed on Tuesday during a visit by Malaysia’s leader, NajibRazak.
The prime minister hopes to use his visit to Beijing this week to woo new investment and boost his image as he is shunned by western leaders over the1MDBfinancial scandal, which has prompted a US government investigation, analysts say.
He was given a warm welcome on Tuesday by his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang. After meeting at the Great Hall of the People, they oversaw the signing of agreements, including a memorandum of understanding ondefence cooperation.
Vice-foreign minister Liu Zhenmin said: “We have not touched upon the details of our cooperation. Mostly we are focusing on naval cooperation.”
Because China andMalaysiaare both South China Sea coastal nations, “we need to enhance our naval cooperation to ensure peace and stability in the South China Sea and enhance our mutual trust,” he said.
Razak said former colonial powers should not “lecture countries they once exploited on how to conduct their own internal affairs today”, a Chinese newspaper reported on Wednesday, in a veiled attack on the west.
Najib said in an editorial in the state-runChinaDaily that larger countries should treat smaller countries fairly.
Beijing asserts that virtually all the South China Sea is Chinese territory, but an international tribunal ruling in July invalidated those claims.China has ignored that ruling.
Six other Asian governments also claim part of the South China Sea, and some observers see it as a potential flashpoint that could spark conflict one day.
While Chinese coast guard ships continue to guard a tiny, uninhabited shoal that China in effect seized in 2012, Filipino fishermen have been allowed to fish there for the first time in four years.
Malaysia claims a swath of the South China Sea north of Borneo, along with islands and reefs, but has been relatively understated amid the feuding between fellow claimants China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Last month, Najib said Malaysia would not compromise on its South China Sea claims, but wants them to be worked out through dialogue and peaceful negotiations.
Liu said the two sides also agreed to enhance cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, trade, investment and law enforcement, and would work together to build an east coast railway link in Malaysia and an oil and gas pipeline in Sabah. All this cooperation “will bring our relations to a new high”, Liu said. Najib has been implicated in a US government investigation into massive fraud at a Malaysian investment fund he founded, 1MDB. The Department of Justice said in a lawsuit seeking to seize assets in the US that at least $3.5bn was stolen from the fund and diverted through a web of shell companies and bank accounts in Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the US.
Najib also wanted to show that “there are still powerful countries around the world that are still willing to give him the five-star or red carpet treatment”. “He’s showing the Malaysian domestic audience that a new upcoming power like China is still willing to host him, because it is quite obvious that he can’t get the same treatment in western capitals any more,” Chin said.
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“China for its part wants to be closer to Malaysia in economic and political terms because it’s trying to draw Malaysia into its sphere of influence,” Chin said.
U.S. destroyer challenges China's claims in South China Sea
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
A U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a “freedom of navigation operation” on Thursday, coming within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea, U.S. officials told Reuters. The operation came as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks Chinese cooperation in dealing with North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs and could complicate efforts to secure a common stance.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the USS John S. McCain traveled close to Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, among a string of islets, reefs and shoals. China has territorial disputes with its neighbors over the area. It was the third “freedom of navigation operation” during Trump’s presidency.
Thursday’s operation, first reported by Reuters, was the latest attempt to counter what Washington sees as Beijing’s efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters, and comes as Trump is seeking China’s cooperation to rein in North Korea.
China’s Defense Ministry said two Chinese warships “jumped into action” and warned the U.S. ship to leave, labeling the move a “provocation” that seriously harms mutual trust. “China is resolutely opposed to this kind of show of force and pushing of regional militarization by the U.S. that may easily cause an unexpected incident at sea or in the air,” it said in a statement.
China’s foreign ministry said the operation had violated international and Chinese law and seriously harmed Beijing’s sovereignty and security. “China is very displeased with this and will bring up the issue with the U.S. side,” the ministry said in a statement.
The United States has criticized China’s construction of islands and build-up of military facilities in the sea, and is concerned they could be used to restrict free nautical movement. Twelve nautical miles marks the territorial limits recognized internationally. Sailing within those 12 miles is meant to show that the United States does not recognize territorial claims there. The United States has said that it would like to see more international participation in freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.
The U.S. military has a long-standing position that its operations are carried out throughout the world, including in areas claimed by allies, and they are separate from political considerations.The Trump administration has vowed to conduct more robust South China Sea operations.In July, a U.S. warship sailed near a disputed island in the South China Sea claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam.
Experts and officials have criticized former President Barack Obama for potentially reinforcing China’s claims by sticking to innocent passage, in which a warship effectively recognized a territorial sea by crossing it speedily without stopping.
China’s claims in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes each year are contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Pentagon declined to provide any details but said that all operations are conducted in accordance with international law.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen recently after North Korea carried out two nuclear tests last year and two ICBM tests last month, prompting a strong round of U.N. sanctions. That angered Pyongyang which has threatened to teach the United States a “severe lesson”.
Trump responded by warning North Korea it would face “fire and fury” if it further threatened the United States.
China, Philippines agree to avoid force in South China Sea dispute
BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - China and the Philippines have agreed to avoid force to resolve their differences over the South China Sea, according to a joint statement issued on Thursday by China at the end of a visit to Manila by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
China and the Philippines have long sparred over the South China Sea, but relations have improved considerably under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines claim some or all of the South China Sea and its myriad shoals, reefs and islands. China claims most of the waterway and has been aggressively building and militarizing artificial islands.
The joint statement, carried by China’s official Xinhua news agency, said China and the Philippines reaffirmed the importance of peace in the South China Sea and of freedom of navigation and overflight.
There should be no violence or threats of violence and the dispute should be resolved via talks between the “relevant sovereign countries”, it added.
“Both sides believe that the maritime dispute is not the full sum of the China-Philippines relationship,” the statement said.
In a separate statement summing up discussions at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, Duterte took note of the “improving relations between ASEAN and China” in the South China Sea.
“In view of this positive momentum, we looked forward to the announcement of the start of substantive negotiations on the Code of Conduct (COC) with China” he said, hopefully in early 2018 in Vietnam, where the two sides will meet at the earliest.
ASEAN and China have been discussing a set of rules on how to behave in the disputed waters to avoid accidents and raising tension.
Duterte said the two sides also had successfully tested the hotline among foreign ministries on how to manage maritime emergencies.
“In our view, these are practical measures that could reduce tensions, and the risks of accidents, misunderstandings and miscalculation,” he said.