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.
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