China tells US to stay out of South China Sea disputes

From the Manila Bulletin (Jul 16): China tells US to stay out of South China Sea disputes

China told the United States on Tuesday to stay out of disputes over the South China Sea and leave countries in the region to resolve problems themselves, after Washington said it wanted a freeze on stoking tension.

Michael Fuchs, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Strategy and Multilateral Affairs, said no country was solely responsible for escalating tension in the region. But he reiterated the US view that “provocative and unilateral” behavior by China had raised questions about its willingness to abide by international law.

China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to contain oil and gas deposits and has rich fishery resources. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan also lay claim to parts of the sea, where about $5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes every year.

China’s Foreign Ministry repeated that it had irrefutable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, where most of the competing claims overlap, and China continues to demand the immediate withdrawal of personnel and equipment of countries which were “illegally occupying” China’s islands.

China “hopes that countries outside the region strictly maintain their neutrality, clearly distinguish right from wrong, and earnestly respect the joint efforts of countries in the region to maintain regional peace and stability,” it added, in reference to the United States.

Recent months have seen flare-ups in disputes over rival offshore claims.
Anti-Chinese riots erupted in Vietnam in May after China’s state oil company CNOOC deployed an oil rig in waters also claimed by Hanoi.

Relations between China and the Philippines have also been tested in recent months by their dispute over a different area. A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Manila said the Philippines strongly supported the US call for all sides to stop aggravating the tension.

The United States wants the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China to have “a real and substantive discussion” to flesh out a call for self-restraint contained in a Declaration of Conduct they agreed to in 2002, with a view to signing a formal maritime Code of Conduct, Fuchs said.

MILITARY CONFLICT FEARED

China’s neighbors are increasingly anxious that Beijing’s maritime disputes with countries like Vietnam and the Philippines will lead to military conflict, a US research group said in findings released Monday.

Even in China itself, polling showed that 62 percent of the public worried that territorial disputes between China and its neighbors could lead to an armed conflict, according to a broad study conducted in 44 countries by the Pew Research Center.

“This year in all 11 Asian nations polled, roughly half or more say they are concerned that territorial disputes between China and its neighbors will lead to a military conflict,” the study found.

At 93 percent, Filipinos were most concerned, followed by the Japanese at 85 percent, Vietnamese at 84 percent, and South Koreans at 83 percent, according to Pew.

Beijing and Hanoi in particular are embroiled in an increasingly heated territorial row, the latest chapter of which was sparked by China’s positioning of a major oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam.

But the Asian giant has also seen tensions rise with Japan and the Philippines, both of which claim Beijing has taken inappropriate steps in the East and South China Seas, where claims of several island chains are under dispute.

According to the report, Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam see China as the greatest threat, while China as well as Malaysia and Pakistan list the United States as the biggest threat.

Every other Asian nation surveyed, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Thailand, see the United States as their greatest ally – although Indonesia also sees America as its greatest threat.

Among citizens of the 44 nations surveyed, 40 percent said they believe the United States was the world’s present-day superpower, compared to 49 percent who said so in 2008.

The number who considered China the leading superpower, meanwhile, rose from 19 percent six years ago to 31 percent today.

Fifty percent of respondents said China would eventually replace or has already replaced the United States in that role, compared to just 32 percent who said China would never do so.

Across the nations surveyed, excluding China, 49 percent of people expressed a favorable opinion of China, compared to 32 percent unfavorable.

CHINA’S ‘ISLAND BUILDING’

The international community should seriously consider the short- and medium-term implications of China’s large-scale “island building” in the disputed South China Sea as it could trigger an arms race with rival claimants fortifying areas under their respective control with sand, structures, and ships, according to Dr. Andrew S. Erickson, an associate professor in the Strategic Research Department at the United States Naval War College and a founding member of the department’s China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI).

“Island building” will eventually support permanent civilian and military infrastructure, he warned.

This will enable China to diversify its strategy for asserting territorial claims in South China Sea, Erickson said in a new article he coauthored entitled “Pandora’s Box” published by multiplatform media organization Foreign Affairs.

Some of the structures in question lie within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claimed by the Philippines, and are situated just 300 to 400 kilometers from the Philippines and Vietnam.

Chinese efforts center on Kagitingan Reef (Fiery Cross Reef) which is also claimed by the Philippines. This reportedly serves as a base for China’s reclamation efforts and already boasts an eight-square-kilometer artificial structure with a wharf, helipad, coastal artillery, and garrisoned marines.

Erickson noted that China, currently rumored to be in the process of adding an airstrip and enlarging the harbor, may eventually transform Kagitingan Reef into a military base twice the size of Diego Garcia, a key United States military base in the Indian Ocean. He said it could become a command-and-control center for the Chinese navy and might anchor a Chinese air defense identification zone (ADIZ) similar to the one it announced over the East China Sea in 2013.

http://www.mb.com.ph/china-tells-us-to-stay-out-of-south-china-sea-disputes/