‘Boarding ships serious issue’
Chinese, US soldiers complete disaster relief drill
JAKARTA, Nov 30, (RTRS): China’s plan to board and search ships that illegally enter what it considers its territory in the disputed South China Sea could spark naval clashes and hurt the region’s economy, Southeast Asia’s top diplomat warned on Friday.
Seeking to ease alarm over the issue, China said it attached “great importance” to freedom of navigation in waters that have some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
New rules that take effect on Jan 1 will allow police in the southern Chinese province of Hainan to board and seize control of foreign ships which “illegally enter” Chinese waters, the official China Daily said on Thursday.
Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the Chinese plan was a “very serious turn of events”.
“It certainly has increased a level of concern and a level of great anxiety among all parties, particularly parties that would need the access, the passage and the freedom to go through,” Surin told Reuters by telephone from Thailand.
Using unusually strong language, Surin said the plan could trigger a major incident that would affect confidence in East Asia, a key engine of global economic growth.
Several countries have overlapping sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas. It is the region’s biggest potential military flashpoint.
A summit of Asian nations this month was overshadowed by disagreements between China and the Philippines over the dispute. Tensions were fanned again by China’s move to issue new passports containing a map of its maritime claims.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei declined to elaborate on the new rules at a briefing in Beijing on Friday and what might constitute illegal entry.
“All countries have freedom of navigation in the South China Sea in accordance with international law ... At present there are no problems in this regard,” he said, adding Beijing wanted to resolve the dispute with neighbouring countries through negotiations.
Right
Asked on Thursday about the police boarding plans, Hong said that management of the seas according to the law was “a sovereign nation’s legitimate right”.
China has said previously it will respect freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and that it has no intention of trying to restrict access.
In Washington, US military officials said the China Daily report mentioned only police in Hainan province, not military forces, so the intended scope of the policy was unclear. Hainan’s policy was unlikely to affect the behaviour of US vessels operating in international waters, said the officials.
The United States has been refo- cusing its military attention on Asia, emboldening its long-time ally the Philippines and former foe Vietnam to take a tougher stance against Beijing.
Meanwhile, Chinese and American soldiers finished a weeklong disaster rescue exercise on Friday, furthering military ties between the two countries even as military tensions rise between China and US military allies in the Pacific region.
The exercise, which included 20 US soldiers visiting facilities in three Chinese cities, are meant to bring the two rivals closer together through non-combat military collaboration, and to allay fears of countries in the region worried over China’s rising influence.
“Our senior leaders have been pretty clear: they’re seeking a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship between our two nations,” said Maj Gen Stephen Lyons, commander of the US Army’s 8th Theater Sustainment Command, based in Hawaii.
“That spirit of cooperation and that level of transparency I think helps signals throughout the region, and it helps us understand each other,” Lyons said at a People’s Liberation Army barracks on the outskirts of Chengdu in southwest China, where a massive earthquake devastated nearby regions in 2008, killing more than 87,000 people.
The general leading the Chinese side acknowledged the two services’ rivalry, but said they share a common duty.