China govt calls for cooperation on Sea
Mechanism to boost trust
BEIJING, March 27, (Agencies): China and the countries surrounding the South China Sea should set up a cooperation mechanism to boost exchanges in efforts ranging from disaster relief to safety of navigation, a senior diplomat said in comments reported on Monday.
China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in shipborne trade passes every year. Neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the strategic waterway.
While China’s construction of artificial islands and military deployments in the area have unnerved its neighbours, Beijing has also been trying to reassure Southeast Asia, with efforts such as talking up a code of conduct for the waterway.
Speaking at a weekend forum on the southern island province of Hainan, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said the mechanism would enhance mutual trust and strengthen cooperation, according to a transcript of his speech released on Monday.
It would contribute to exchanges in such areas as disaster prevention, maritime rescue, environmental protection, biodiversity, scientific research and navigational safety, he added.
“The mechanism is aimed at strengthening pragmatic cooperation and increasing mutual trust, and is not about resolving disputes,” Liu said.
A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves:
China’s Scarborough plans still unclear
China may or may not be planning to build an environmental monitoring station on the disputed Scarborough Shoal, depending on who you ask.
While the top official in the administrative region covering the island says preparatory work for the station is a priority, the foreign ministry says there is no such plan.
The Philippines, which also claims the shoal, has sought a clarification from Beijing.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said last week that reports about the facility on Scarborough had been checked and were untrue.
However, the official Hainan Daily newspaper had earlier quoted Xiao Jie, the top official in Sansha City, as saying that preparatory work on the station was among the government’s top priorities for 2017. Calls to the region’s government seeking clarification have rung unanswered.
Neighbors
Such a move would likely renew concerns among Beijing’s neighbors over its assertive territorial claims in the strategically crucial South China Sea.
Beijing seized tiny, uninhabited Scarborough in 2012 after a tense standoff with Philippine vessels.
China’s construction and land reclamation work in the South China Sea have drawn strong criticism from the US and others, who accuse Beijing of further militarizing the region and altering geography to bolster its claims. China says the seven man-made islands in the disputed Spratly group, complete with their airstrips and military installations, are mainly for civilian purposes.
Prior to the announcement, South China Sea tensions had eased somewhat after Beijing erupted in fury last year following an international arbitration tribunal ruling on a case filed by the Philippines. The verdict invalidated China’s sweeping territorial claims and determined that China had violated the rights of Filipinos to fish at Scarborough Shoal.
China has since allowed Filipino fishermen to return to the shoal following an improvement in ties between the countries, but it does not recognize the tribunal’s ruling as valid.
China’s premier reassures on freedom of navigation, overflight
On a visit to Australia, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang offered reassurances on the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.
Li, China’s second ranked official, said China would work with Australia to ensure freedom of navigation in distributed regions.
China will “never seek hegemony and dominance,” Li said, adding China needed a stable world environment to grow its economy. Li was welcomed to Parliament House by a 19-gun salute and distant protest chants of anti-China demonstrators who were kept well away from the Chinese leader.
While Australia does not take an active participant in the South China Sea disputes, it is a close security partner of the United States, while also relying on China as its biggest export market. During Li’s visit, he and Turnbull oversaw the signing of agreements that will expand their 2-year-old free trade pact. China also agreed to expand its market for Australian beef exporters.
Turnbull rejected arguments that Australia must choose between the US and China, despite growing tensions between the economic superpowers.
China said on Monday it has complained to Japan after a Japanese minister visited self-ruled Taiwan over the weekend, warning this could hurt relations between Beijing and Tokyo.
Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Deputy Minister Jiro Akama went to Taiwan to attend a tourism promotion event in his official capacity, leaving Japan last Friday and returning the following day.
Japanese media said Akama was the highest-level government official to officially visit Taiwan since Japan broke diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1972 and established them with Beijing.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the visit clearly ran contrary to Japan’s promises to only have non-governmental and local level exchanges with Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province. “China is resolutely opposed to this and has already made solemn representations to Japan,” Hua told a daily news briefing.
Japan has said it respects its promises on the Taiwan but actually it has been provocative, she added.
“This has caused serious disturbance to the improvement of Sino-Japanese ties.”
Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the Communists. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.