Beijing is poised to take “de facto control” of the South China Sea, the Philippines said yesterday, but its call for a robust regional response at a summit was shot down.
Alongside Taiwan, ASEAN members Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim parts of the body of water, but Beijing claims almost all of it; its territorial assertions have caused concern in the region and beyond.
“[China] is poised to consolidate de facto control of the South China Sea,” Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario said in Kuala Lumpur a day ahead of an annual ASEAN summit.
Photo: AFP
He cited land reclamation on disputed reefs that has raised the specter of Chinese bases from which it can enforce its claims.
“Is it not time for ASEAN to say to our northern neighbor that what it is doing is wrong and that the massive reclamations must be immediately stopped?” del Rosario asked his fellow ministers. “Is it not time for ASEAN to finally stand up for what is right?”
However, summit host Malaysia rejected the idea of a response that could antagonize China.
“We must avoid any action that would be counterproductive and bring us further apart, either among ourselves, or with China,” Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anifah Aman said.
“I do not think ASEAN would like to be given an ultimatum, and by the same token I do not think China would like to be given an ultimatum,” he said.
Faced with Beijing’s immense trade and diplomatic leverage, ASEAN has a history of failing to agree on strong responses over the issue on behalf of its members with disputed maritime claims.
Concern over Chinese land reclamation was reignited this month by satellite photos showing huge amounts of sand being dredged and dumped onto fragile coral reefs claimed by the Philippines.
Defense analysts say these works are creating land masses big enough for airstrips and other facilities, raising the specter of deepening Chinese domination of a vital conduit for much of world trade.
A draft statement prepared well before the gathering began called for “self-restraint” at sea, but avoided direct criticism of China, a diplomatic source said previously.
“ASEAN member-states want to see that this matter should be settled amicably,” Anifah said, adding that he suggested China someday allow joint use of the islands it is constructing.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the