China actions like Russian attack — US

From the Manila Standard Today (Jun 28): China actions like Russian attack — US

CHINA’S terra-forming in disputed waters in the South China Sea is just like Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula and has become “a threat to peace and stability,” according to a senior United States diplomat.

“In both eastern Ukraine and the South China Sea, we’re witnessing efforts to unilaterally and coercively change the status quo -- transgressions that the United States and our allies stand united against,” Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.

Blinken reiterated Washington’s declared policy that the United States took no position on the merits of competing claims in the South China Sea, but it had a strong interest in how those were pursued and in preserving freedom of navigation.

“The way forward is for China, and all claimants, to freeze their reclamation activities and resolve their difference in accordance with the rule of law,” said Blinken, the second highest state department official.

The Department of Foreign Affairs could not comment on Saturday, but Malacañang had earlier responded to Beijing’s criticism that Manila was trying to involve other nations in the ongoing disputes in a part of the South China Sea that is called the West Philippine Sea issue.

“We cannot be faulted if other countries have lauded the approach that we have decided to take in resolving this dispute that we have with our neighbor,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte told reporters during a press briefing at the Palace.

Valte was asked to comment on the statement made by Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman, Senior Colonel Yang Yujun, during a regular press conference on Thursday that “some regional nations drag countries outside the region to interfere in the South China Sea issue, demonstrate muscles, and intentionally play up regional tensions.”

“This behavior would only bring harm to the situation in the South China Sea,” he said.

Valte noted that the issue concerns countries outside the region since 60 percent to 80 percent of global trade passes through the disputed waters.

Asked about the environmental harm that China’s reclamation works have created, Valte said she wants to leave it to the experts to assess the damage on coral reefs caused by China’s island-building activities.

“More weight should be given to the opinion of experts when it comes to the destruction of marine resources and the coral reefs that are affected. We would defer to their judgment on that,” she said.

The Philippine government has filed a case before the international arbitral tribunal to resolve the dispute despite China’s refusal to participate.

It is also pushing for the crafting of a binding Code of Conduct in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to ease the tension in the contested territory.

Among the nations that has backed the country’s tack in the South China Sea dispute is Japan, whose top military officer said China’s recent moves to build artificial islands had created “very serious potential concerns” for Japan.

Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

“We don’t have any plans to conduct surveillance in the South China Sea currently but depending on the situation, I think there is a chance we could consider doing so,” the admiral was quoted as saying.

Kawano did not specify what actions by China might make the Japanese consider starting patrols, the Journal reported, and any activity by Japan’s military beyond its borders would likely raise concerns at home.

This week Japan and the Philippines flew patrol planes near the disputed South China Sea waters.

Kawano said he hoped to see more military cooperation with South Korea, an area that has suffered because of disagreements between Tokyo and Seoul over wartime history, the Journal said.

The two neighbors have exchanged warmer words in the past few days as they marked 50 years of ties.

 

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