China slams US reso on territorial sea dispute

From the Daily Tribune (Aug 3): China slams US reso on territorial sea dispute

A formal complaint with the United States was filed by Beijing, criticizing a US Senate-approved resolution which expressed concern about Chinese actions in the disputed South and East China Seas.

Senate Resolution 167 calls for a peaceful resolution of maritime and territorial disputes. It also urges countries contesting ownership of parts of the South China Sea and East China Sea to create and approve a code of conduct to avoid conflicts.

“With a long history of engagement in the region, the US has a vital interest in working with all nations in developing, institutionalizing, and sustaining a rules-based order for the area. That starts with putting in place effective mechanisms to manage
maritime disputes that destabilize the region, and supporting and encouranging the peaceful resolution of disputes in the Asia-Pacific maritime domain,” Menendez, one of the sponsors of the resolution, in a statement, has said.

But China has consistently said the US should have no role to play in the dispute over the South China Sea.

China’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement, yesterday noted that the “resolution proposed by a minority of senators took heed of neither history nor facts, unjustifiably blaming China and sending the wrong message.”

“China strongly opposes the practice and has lodged solemn representations with the US side,” it said.

It also urged “the relevant US lawmakers to respect the facts and correct their mistakes so as to avoid further complicating the issue and the situation in the region.”

“The disputed islands in the East China Sea and the South China Sea are both part of China’s territory and have been since ancient times,” the Foreign Ministry said. “Due to historical factors, however, some of China’s neighbors have disputed China’s ownership of the islands.”

China claims nearly all of the sea, even waters close to the Philippines and other neighbors.

Analysts have long warned that China’s overlapping claims with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan could be a flashpoint of armed conflict.

Tensions have risen in recent years as China has adopted more aggressive diplomatic and military tactics to assert its claims to the potentially resource-rich waters.

The Philippines has repeatedly called on the US, its former colonial master and close military ally, for help in resisting China.

While Washington insists it will not take sides in the South China Sea dispute, it has helped to upgrade the Philippines’ military capabilities.

Relatedly, China’s state media yesterday lauded the country’s maritime power after navy vessels completed their first circuit around Japan.

Beijing has been looking to expand its bluewater reach, launching its first aircraft carrier last year, and the circumnavigation of Japan sends a symbolic signal with Beijing and Tokyo at loggerheads over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

China has “crossed all the strongest parts” of the islands that stretch from Japan’s northern tip to the Philippines in the south and separate it from the Pacific Ocean, said Du Wenlong, a senior researcher at a People’s Liberation Army academy, according to the state-run China Daily.

China’s navy is “capable of sending and supporting its warships to navigate and fight in channels far from the continent,” the newspaper quoted Du as saying.

As well as the row with Tokyo, Beijing also claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, leading to disputes with several littoral states.

Du’s remarks came days after five Chinese military ships circled the Japanese archipelago for the first time, the China Daily said.

Five Chinese ships returned to port on July 28 after passing through the Soya Strait, which divides northern Japan and Russia, before traveling down Japan’s east coast and traversing the Miyako strait off Okinawa, the newspaper added.

Japan’s defense ministry has said that patrol aircraft spotted five Chinese vessels sailing through a sea lane between Okinawa and the Miyako islands to the southwest, although they did not enter Japanese waters.

Tensions between China and its neighbors have risen in recent years, as China has boosted its naval capacity and asserted its maritime claims.

“The Chinese navy must grow into a blue water navy because all of the aggression against China in modern times came from the sea,” the China Daily quoted Ou Jianping, of China’s National Defense University, as saying.

China’s newly-appointed President Xi Jinping has also vowed to boost his country’s naval capacity since taking the ruling Communist Party’s top post in November.

Meanwhile, despite the deployment of BRP Gregorio Del Pilar to escort  BRP Ramon Alcaraz in Philippine waters, the Navy yesterday assured the public that it still has adequate forces to protect the maritime boundaries.

Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Fabic, Philippine Navy spokesman, said there is no naval gap to speak off with BRP Gregorio Del Pilar’s deployment for escort duties.

“(There is) no gap. We have several ships situated and deployed all over the country. A ship being mobile can be deployed elsewhere where a mission or certain task needs to be done,” he added.

The PN operates around 110 ships of all sizes.

BRP Gregorio Del Pilar is scheduled to escort the BRP Ramon Alcaraz on its run to Bolinao, Pangasinan Saturday morning.
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