China has shown “great restraint” in the South China Sea by not seizing islands occupied by other countries even though it could have, a senior Chinese diplomat said yesterday ahead of two regional summits where the disputed waterway is likely to be a hot topic.
Beijing has overlapping claims with Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.
Reclamation work and the building of three airfields and other facilities on some of China’s artificial islands in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) have alarmed the region and raised concern in Washington that China is extending its military reach deep into maritime Southeast Asia.
China is the real victim as it had had “dozens” of its islands and reefs in the Spratlys illegally occupied by three of the claimants, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin (劉振民) told a news conference in Beijing, without naming countries.
“The Chinese government has the right and the ability to recover the islands and reefs illegally occupied by neighboring countries,” Liu said. “But we haven’t done this. We have maintained great restraint with the aim to preserve peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
Tensions over the South China Sea are likely to dominate the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur later this week. While not on the formal agenda of the APEC summit today and tomorrow in Manila, the South China Sea is expected to be discussed on the sidelines.
US President Barack Obama, who arrived in Manila yesterday, will attend both meetings. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is in Manila for APEC while Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) will represent Beijing in Malaysia.
Liu said China did not want the South China Sea to be the focus of the East Asia Summit, but he said it would be hard to avoid and that some countries would raise it.
China’s island building in the Spratlys was not about militarization, Liu said, adding for example that too much attention had been placed on the length of China’s airstrips.
“Actually, the larger they are, the more civilian benefits they will bring,” Liu said, pointing to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 last year as evidence of the poor state of search and rescue capabilities in the South China Sea.
Liu also repeated Beijing’s standard line that while China’s building work was for defense, its main focus was civilian. China was building facilities such as lighthouses, while protecting the environment.
He said the focus of the East Asia Summit should be development.
“Hyping the South China Sea issue is not conducive to cooperation,” Liu said.
Beijing has been particularly angered by the Philippines’ case against China at an arbitration tribunal over their rival claims.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique