China: Virus not for SCS expansion

BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister has dismissed claims that the country is exploiting the coronavirus outbreak to expand its footprint in the South China Sea, labeling such accusations as “sheer nonsense.”

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters at a news conference on Sunday that China was cooperating closely on anti-virus efforts with Southeast Asian countries, several of whom have overlapping territorial claims with China in the strategically vital waterway.

While China has long been stepping up its presence in the region, Wang said other countries, implying the United States and its allies, have been creating instability with military flights and sea patrols.

“Their ill-intentioned and despicable moves are meant to sow discord between China and (Southeast Asian countries) and undermine the hard-won stability in the region,” Wang said.

China said it will increase its defense spending by 6.6 percent this year, despite a major downturn in the country’s economic growth due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The increase is the lowest in years, but will still allow China to expand its ability to enforce its territorial claims in the South China Sea and grow its military presence in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Another key priority is maintaining a credible threat against Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China considers its own territory to be brought under its control by military force if necessary.

Double-digit percentage increases of just a few years ago have given China the second biggest defense budget in the world behind the US. Spending this year will total 1.3 trillion yuan, according to the website of the National People’s Congress, the ceremonial parliament that opened its annual session on Friday.

Meanwhile, Southeast Asian countries are cutting defense spending as a result of the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus outbreak, potentially opening up room for China to further assert its claims in the region, according to a study.

Aristyo Rizka Darmawan, a maritime security expert at the University of Indonesia, writes that slashing defense spending is seen as a relatively easy way to cut costs when countries are facing pressure on their budgets.

“Indonesia, for example, has announced that it would slash its defense budget this year by nearly $588 million. Thailand has likewise reduced its defense allocation by $555 million. Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines all face similar pressure,” Darmawan wrote in the online journal of the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank.