Beijing ‘warns’ on Sea dispute
‘Be careful’
BEIJING, March 31, (Agencies): Beijing’s defence ministry on Thursday warned the US navy to “be careful” in the South China Sea and slammed a newly signed defence agreement between Washington and the Philippines.
Earlier this month, Manila agreed to give US forces access to five military bases, including some close to the disputed South China Sea, where tensions have risen over Beijing’s assertion of its territorial claims.
China claims virtually all the South China Sea despite conflicting claims by Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, and has built up artificial islands in the area in recent months, including some with airstrips.
Washington has since October carried out two highprofile “freedom of navigation” operations in which it sailed warships within 12 nautical miles of islets claimed by China.
Patrols
Asked about a recent report on US patrols in the sea, defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a briefing on Thursday: “As for the US ships which came, I can only suggest they be careful”.
The agreement between Washington and Manila applies to the Antonio Bautista Air Base on the western island of Palawan, directly on the South China Sea.
Asked about the deal, Yang said: “To strengthen military alliances is a reflection of a Cold War mentality”.
“It is in the opposite direction of the trends of the era for peace, development and cooperation,” he said, adding bilateral military cooperation “should not “undermine a third party’s interests”.
Washington regularly accuses Beijing -- which says it has built runways on and deployed unspecified weapons to islands in the South China Sea -- of militarising the area.
Beijing denies the accusations and says US patrols have ramped up tensions.
“Now, the United States has come back, and is reinforcing its military presence in this region and promoting militarisation in the South China Sea,” Yang said.
Beijing acknowledges that the facilities on its new islands will have military as well as civilian purposes.
Satellite imagery released last month showed Beijing was installing radar equipment and had deployed surface-to-air missiles and lengthened a runway to accommodate fighter jets on one islet, Woody Island, in the Paracels.
China’s Defence Ministry denounced as gesticulation on Thursday speculation it would declare an air defence zone over the disputed South China Sea, after the United States said it had told China it would not recognise one.
Concern
US officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt China to declare an air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.
US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said on Wednesday the US would view such a move as “destabilising” and would not recognise such an exclusion zone in the South China Sea, just as it did not recognise the one China established over the East China Sea.
Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun, asked about Work’s remarks, said any sovereign state had the right to set up an ADIZ.
China’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday it has set up a dedicated unit to coordinate its “non-war” activities overseas like evacuations from conflict zones, as it seeks to play a greater role in the world.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has sent its navy to take part in anti-piracy patrols in the waters off Somalia and helped evacuate its citizens and other foreigners from Yemen.
The new Overseas Action Department has been established as part of broader military reforms, ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a regular monthly news briefing.
Malaysia said on Thursday that it had summoned the Chinese ambassador to register its concerns over what the government said was an encroachment by a large number of Chinese-flagged boats in the South China Sea.
About 100 Chinese fishing boats were detected encroaching in Malaysia’s waters, Malaysia’s state news agency and a coastguard official said last week.