US, China trade barbs over maritime friction

From the Daily Tribune (Jun 1): US, China trade barbs over maritime friction

American and Chinese officials traded heated words yesterday over the South China Sea friction as US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel denounced China’s “destabilizing, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea” while Chinese army’s deputy chief of staff Wang Guanzhong blasted the United States for making “threats” at a security forum in Singapore which both officials attended.

Wang described Hagel’s comments at the Shangri-La Dialogue as baseless. “Secretary Hagel’s speech is full of threats and intimidating language.

Secretary Hagel’s speech is full of encouragement, incitement for the Asia region’s instability giving rise to a disturbance,” state broadcaster China Central Television quoted Wang as telling reporters.

“Secretary Hagel, in this kind of public space with many people, openly criticized China without reason. This accusation is completely without basis,” Wang said.

Tensions recently flared in the South China Sea, claimed almost entirely by China, which has lately taken bold steps to enforce what it says are its historical rights.

Wang added the value of the Shangri-La Dialogue was to encourage exchanges, sometimes blunt, between governments and think-tanks but China should not be accused without basis, CCTV said.

China’s official Xinhua news agency on Saturday accused the United States of raising tensions in Asia, following Hagel’s speech.

“The United States has been trying to practise its approach of ensuring the safety of its allies by maintaining its military dominance,” it said.

“It even adopted the strategy of stoking fires to do this with the influence felt and visibly seen behind the tensions on the South China Sea.”

China has sought to counter Washington’s foreign policy “pivot” to Asia, but it has also angered Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines, the latter two US allies, with what those countries say are aggressive moves in separate maritime rows.

Relations between China and Vietnam have worsened after Beijing sent a deep-water oil drilling rig into contested waters in the South China Sea. The Philippines accused China of reclaiming land on a disputed reef within its exclusive economic zone under a United Nations convention, while Beijing and Tokyo have a long-running feud over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Last Friday, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, also speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, vowed that his country would play a larger role in promoting peace in Asia and called for the rule of law to be upheld in the region.

Another commentary published by Xinhua on yesterday dismissed the speech as seeking to mask Japan’s military ambitions.

“Such rhetoric is fundamentally flawed when it came from the nationalist leader who has been trying to conjure up the militarist past of Japan in a drive to re-arm his country,” it said.

Stressing US commitments to allies and friends in Asia, Hagel called for a peaceful resolution of maritime disputes and issued a blunt message to China, which was represented by a high-level military delegation.

Hagel accused China of restricting the Philippines’ access to Scarborough Shoal, putting pressure on Manila’s long-standing presence in Second Thomas Shoal, beginning land reclamation at various locations and moving an oil rig into disputed waters with Vietnam.

Hagel said that while the United States does not take sides on rival claims, “we firmly oppose any nation’s use of intimidation, coercion, or the threat of force to assert these claims”.

“The United States will not look the other way when fundamental principles of the international order are being challenged,” he said.

Veteran diplomat Fu Ying, head of the foreign affairs committee in China’s rubber-stamp parliament, did not refer to Hagel by name but said countries should “not keep resorting to the 20th century mentality which is about war and conflict.”

She added that “in the 21st century, we don’t have a world state and no country can claim that they own the law, they own the management of the sea. “All countries have to work together based on mutual respect,” she said.

Four Southeast Asian states — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — claim parts of the South China Sea, which China claims in nearly its entirety, citing what it calls historic rights. Taiwan is the sixth claimant.

In the latest outbreak of tensions, Vietnam accused Chinese warships Thursday of pointing weapons at their vessels during an escalating standoff near an oil rig in contested waters. There have also been ramming incidents involving boats from both sides.

The South China Sea straddles vital shipping lanes, and some of the disputed islets and shoals are believed to sit atop vast energy deposits.
China is also in dispute with Japan over islands in the East Sea, which Tokyo calls Senkaku and Beijing refers to as Diaoyu.

Last year, China declared an air defence identification zone in the East Sea, including over the outcrops, which are under Japan’s administration.

In his speech, Hagel reiterated that the United States opposes “any effort by any nation to restrict overflight or freedom of navigation, whether from military or civilian vessels, from countries big or small”.

Restating a US declaration, he said “the Senkaku Islands fall under our mutual defence treaty with Japan” and backed Tokyo’s plans to play a greater role in maintaining security in Asia.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe opened the Singapore forum Friday by saying his country would play a more “proactive” role in Asian security, including providing coast guard vessels to the Philippines and potentially Vietnam.

Hagel also pledged support to countries that are moving towards democracy, notably Myanmar.

He urged the Thai military junta that took power in a coup on May 22 to release people they have detained, end restrictions on freedom of expression, and “move immediately” to hold elections.

Hagel said that until that happens, the Pentagon will continue to suspend and reconsider US military assistance and engagements with Thailand.

Despite tough words for China’s behaviour in disputed Asian waters, Hagel also cited efforts to forge a “new model of relations” between Beijing and Washington, including military cooperation and multinational exercises.

“The United States is reaching out to China — because we seek to expand prosperity and security for all nations of the region,” he said.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/us-china-trade-barbs-over-maritime-friction