(4th UPDATE) Admiral Sun Jianguo: 'China firmly opposes such behavior. We do not make trouble but we have no fear of trouble.'
MARITIME ROW. China's Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), delivers his speech during a plenary session at the 15th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 5, 2016. Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP
An Asian security
summit ended in discord Sunday, June 5, after China
denounced US "provocations" in the South China
Sea and declared it does not fear trouble in the contested waters.
"The South
China Sea issue has become overheated because of the provocations of certain
countries for their own selfish interests," Admiral Sun Jianguo told an
annual forum in Singapore .
Sun, who stressed
China 's desire for a
peaceful solution, spoke one day after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said
any Chinese construction on an islet near the Philippines
would prompt unspecified "actions" by the United States
and other nations.
On a visit to Mongolia Sunday, US
Secretary of State John Kerry also warned Beijing against setting up an air defense identification zone
over the disputed waters.
"We would
consider an ADIZ, an ADIZ zone, over portions of the South China Sea as a
provocative and destabilizing act, which would automatically raise tensions and
call into serious question China 's
commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea ," Kerry said.
"We believe
that it is critical that no country move unilaterally to militarize the
region," he added.
His remarks came
on the eve of a US-China dialogue in Beijing and after Hong Kong's South
China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper cited Chinese army sources as saying Beijing was mulling such a zone.
Rhetoric has
escalated ahead of a decision at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on a case brought by the Philippines, a longtime US ally and former colony, against China , which
says it will not recognize any ruling.
The Chinese
admiral said US naval and air patrols in the sea were a display of
"military muscles" and China was being forced to
"accept and honor" the tribunal's ruling.
"China firmly
opposes such behavior. We do not make trouble but we have no fear of
trouble," Sun, the leader of the Chinese delegation in Singapore , said
in prepared remarks.
Carter had left Singapore by
the time Sun made his speech.
Sun also took
exception to Carter's statement on Saturday that Beijing risks building a "Great Wall of
self-isolation" with its military expansion.
"We were not
isolated in the past. We're not isolated, and we will not be isolated in the
future. Actually I am worried some people and countries are still looking at China with a
Cold War mentality and prejudice," the Chinese admiral said in response to
questions from other delegates.
Apparently
referring to the United States
and the Philippines ,
Sun said "some hegemonic countries have empowered small countries to make
provocations against big countries."
The SCMP has
reported that China plans to establish an outpost on Scarborough Shoal 230
kilometers (140 miles) off the Philippines
which considers it part of its exclusive economic zone.
According to a
Pentagon report, China has
added more than 3,200 acres (1,295 hectares) of land to the 7 islets it
occupies in the Spratlys, a separate island chain from Scarborough .
Carter declined
to elaborate when pressed on Saturday over what "actions" Washington might take.
But the Pentagon chief proposed stronger bilateral security cooperation with China to reduce
the risk of a mishap.
French Defense
Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the forum that the European Union had a stake in maintaining freedom of
shipping and navigation in the South China Sea ,
and said he would speak to his counterparts on the issue.
Pentagon
officials say two Chinese fighters last month conducted an "unsafe" intercept of a US spy plane in
international airspace over the South China Sea .
http://www.rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/135381-china-hits-us-provocations-doesnt-fear-trouble
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