China rejects US query on military flight to Spratlys

From Malaya Business Insight (Apr 20): China rejects US query on military flight to Spratlys

CHINA’S Defense Ministry on Tuesday rejected queries by the US military as to why China had used a military aircraft to evacuate sick workers from a new airport on an island China has built in the disputed South China Sea.

CNN quoted Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis as saying it was unclear why China had used a military aircraft rather than a civilian one in the landing on Fiery Cross Reef.

China’s Defense Ministry said, in a statement, its military’s tradition was to help those in need as part of its commitment to “wholeheartedly serve the people.”

“In sharp contrast, the US side is expressing doubts about whether it’s a military or civilian aircraft at a time when somebody’s life is in danger,” it said.

“We cannot but ask: if a US citizen suddenly took ill on US soil, would the US military look on with folded arms?”

China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and the United States has no right to comment on China’s building works and defensive facilities there, the ministry said.

Chinese activity in disputed waters of the South China Sea, including the construction of islands by dredging up sand onto reefs and shoals in the Spratly archipelago, has alarmed rival claimants, in particular the Philippines and Vietnam, as well as the United States.

The United States has repeatedly criticized the construction of the islands and worries that China plans to use them for military purposes. China says it has no hostile intent.

The runway on the Fiery Cross Reef is 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) long and is one of three China has been building for more than a year in the archipelago.

Civilian flights began test runs there in January but the landing by the military aircraft, on Sunday, was the first time China has publicly reported a flight by a military plane to Fiery Cross Reef.

In Manila, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Malacañang is awaiting a report about the incident from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which is still verifying the reported landing.

Coloma said China’s actions do not match its assurance of non-militarization and only adds to the tension in the South China Sea.

Coloma, in an interview over government run-radio station Radyo ng Bayan, said the Philippines reiterated that the freedom of navigation and flight should be maintained in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea where trillions of dollars worth of international trade pass annually.

He said Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his meeting with United States President Barack Obama at the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Manila in November 2015, assured that China has no plans of militarizing the South China Sea.
Coloma said a lot of nations, even non-claimants, have been expressing concerns over China’s aggressiveness.

http://malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/china-rejects-us-query-military-flight-spratlys