A rule book to settle disputes in the hotly contested South China Sea should be finished in three years, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) said yesterday, insisting that China does not seek “hegemony or expansion.”
Li’s comments appeared to be the first clear time frame for finishing the code of conduct. Talks have dragged on for years, with China accused of delaying progress as it prefers to deal with less powerful countries on a one-to-one basis.
Ownership of islands and waters in the South China Sea is disputed by several nations.
Photo: EPA-EFE / US Navy
China, which claims virtually all of the sea, has established military positions on disputed outcrops and has intimidated fishermen and naval vessels from rival claimants.
Tensions have soared with fellow claimants such as Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines, as well as the US, which has traditionally been the dominant military power in the area.
Beijing and 10-member ASEAN have for years sought to hammer out a code to govern disputes in the disputed waters, but the process has moved slowly.
Speaking in Singapore ahead of the opening of an ASEAN summit, Li said: “It is China’s hope that the [code of conduct] consultation will be finished in three years’ time so that it will contribute to enduring peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
“We are not and we will not seek hegemony or expansion. That is something that we will never do,” he said. “What we hope is to have a harmonious relationship with our neighbors.”
There have been small signs of progress in the past few months.
China and Southeast Asian nations in August announced that they had agreed on their initial bargaining positions as they work toward a code.
However, critics said that some of Beijing’s proposals in the agreement were clearly aimed at expanding its influence in the region at the expense of Washington.
Navies from China and Southeast Asia last month also staged their first joint drills in the South China Sea in an effort to ease tensions.
Opposition has weakened in many parts of Southeast Asia to China’s aggressive behavior in the waters in the past few years, with countries keen to attract investment from Beijing and worried about the US’ commitment to the region under US President Donald Trump.
However, Washington and other Western allies such as Britain and Australia have ramped up freedom of navigation exercises in the past few months. The sailing of warships through the strategic region is a bid to enforce the idea that the sea is international waters and open to all, a stance that has infuriated Beijing.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters in Singapore that any code of conduct deal struck between China and Southeast Asian nations should not be allowed to restrict access to the sea.
“It also has to be acceptable to all the countries that have legitimate maritime and naval military rights to transit and other associated rights that we don’t want to see infringed,” he said.
He also took a swipe at China for using the years of negotiations to build up its military installations across the sea.
“Not just by creating facts on the ground, but by creating ground and then putting the facts on top of them,” he added.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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