China does not feel threatened by countries in Southeast Asia and is optimistic about the situation in the disputed South China Sea, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, warning Japan not to “spread rumors” it plans a new air defense identification zone.
China alarmed Japan, South Korea and the US last year when it announced an air defense identification zone for the East China Sea, covering a group of uninhabited islands at the center of a bitter ownership spat between China and Japan.
Japanese newspaper the Asahi Shimbun on Friday said China was considering setting up a similar zone — where foreign aircraft are supposed to report their movements to China — in the South China Sea, prompting the US Department of State to warn against such a move.
In a statement released late on Saturday, the Chinese foreign ministry implied there was no need for such a zone in the South China Sea, where China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines all have competing claims.
“Generally speaking, China does not feel there is an air security threat from ASEAN countries,” the ministry said.
“China feels optimistic about relations with countries surrounding the South China Sea and the general situation in the South China Sea,” the ministry said, adding it believed prospects for ties with ASEAN were “bright.”
While the ministry said China had a right to set up air defense identification zones that nobody should criticize, it criticized Japan for attempting to distract attention from its own military plans.
“Right-wing forces in Japan have again been hyping up so-called plans that China will shortly set up an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea, which is purely to try and distract international attention, to cover up their conspiracy to ... expand their military,” the ministry said.
“We warn these forces not to delude people with rumors for their own selfish interests and play up tensions, and hope the relevant party talks and acts cautiously,” it added.
Ties have been strained by a recent visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a controversial shrine for war dead, China’s East China Sea air defense zone and the long-running dispute over a string of islets that Taiwan, Japan and China claim — known as the Senkaku Islands in Japanese and the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Chinese.
China, which is swiftly ramping up military spending, has regularly dispatched patrols to the East China Sea since it established the defense zone.
The Japan Coast Guard yesterday said that Chinese ships sailed through disputed waters off the Tokyo-controlled islands.
Three Chinese coastguard vessels spent more than two hours in the 12-nautical-mile (22.2km) territorial waters off one of the Senkaku Islands, it said.
They left the waters at about 12:30pm, it said.
China’s State Oceanic Administration said three of its coastguard ships were patrolling “territorial waters surrounding the Diaoyu Islands” yesterday, according to Xinhua news agency.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2