(HOT NEWS TODAY • Friday 8
July 2016)
AMERICA SHOULD ‘SPEAK AND ACT
CAUTIOUSLY’
China sends another warning to US
over South China Sea
Washington should stick to its
promise not to take sides, says Chinese Foreign Minister
WASHINGTON/BEIJING
— The United States should do nothing to harm China’s sovereignty and security
in the South China Sea, China’s Foreign Minister told US Secretary of State
John Kerry, ahead of a key court ruling on Beijing’s claims in the disputed
waterway.
Speaking
by telephone early yesterday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Mr. Kerry
that the US should stick to its promise not to take sides in the dispute,
China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
China
hopes the US “speaks and acts cautiously, and take no actions that harm China’s
sovereignty and security interests”, the statement paraphrased Mr. Wang as
saying.
The
US State Department confirmed that Mr. Kerry had spoken to Mr. Wang, without
providing details.
Tensions
between the two sides, which have been rising ahead of a July 12 ruling by an
arbitration court hearing the dispute between China and the Philippines over
the South China Sea, were heightened yesterday with reports that US destroyers
have sailed close to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, where China is
currently conducting military drills around the Paracel Islands.
On
Wednesday, China’s former top diplomat, Dai Bingguo, cautioned the US against
“heavy-handed” intervention in the South China Sea, adding that Beijing will
not heed the ruling as it would be “nothing more than a piece of waste paper”.
Mr.
Wang repeated China’s rejection of the case yesterday, saying the court had no
jurisdiction. “The farce of the arbitration court should come to an end,” he
said.
Regardless
of its ruling, China will “resolutely safeguard its own territorial sovereignty
and legitimate maritime rights and firmly safeguard peace and stability in the
South China Sea”, added Mr. Wang.
In
the call initiated by Mr. Kerry, Mr. Wang also said relations between China and
the US were generally on a sound track and that the two sides should focus on
cooperation while managing their differences.
Ahead
of the tribunal ruling, diplomatic sources said Asia-Pacific foreign ministers
are preparing to call both China and the US to dial down tensions over the
matter.
This
is expected to be conveyed to the two countries at an Association of South-east
Asian Nations (Asean) regional forum on security in Laos later this month. Laos
is the current Asean chair.
In
the call initiated by Mr Kerry (left), Mr Wang said relations between China and
the US were generally
on a sound track and that the two sides should focus on
cooperation while managing their differences. PHOTO: REUTERS
Asean’s
response on this issue will be highly anticipated, especially after the debacle
at a Special AseanChina Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kunming last month when
the group first issued and then hastily retracted a strongly worded statement
articulating its position on rising tensions in the South China Sea, as several
member states came under pressure from Beijing. Citing a draft statement, the
diplomatic sources said yesterday Asean member states and other nations, which
included China, US and Japan, are expected to reaffirm the importance of
maintaining stability in regional waters on the basis of international law.
The
sources also said the statement — drafted by Laos, a close ally of China —
“took note” of concerns voiced by “some ministers” over China’s increased
assertiveness in the South China Sea, although it did not mention any country
by name. The statement also said territorial disputes in the South China Sea
should be resolved by the “states concerned” through peaceful means.
China
is currently conducting military exercises around the Paracel Islands in the
north of the South China Sea, while US Navy officials said yesterday that US
destroyers had been patrolling the Spratly Islands to the south.
While
not close enough to be within 12 nautical miles — a so-called freedom of
navigation operation that would require high-level approval — the destroyers
operated within 14 to 20 nautical miles of the Chinese-occupied features, the
Navy Times reported.
The
ships have also been patrolling the South China Sea since last week.
“All
of these patrols are conducted in accordance with international law and all are
consistent with routine Pacific Fleet presence throughout the Western Pacific,”
said Pacific Fleet spokesman Lieutenant Clint Ramsden to Reuters.
China
frequently blames the US for stirring up trouble in the South China Sea, where
its territorial claims overlap in parts with Vietnam, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
China
has accused the US of militarising the waterway with freedom of navigation
patrols, while Washington has expressed concern about China’s building of
military facilities on islands it controls in the South China Sea.
US
officials say the US response, should China stick to its vow to ignore the
ruling, could include stepped up freedom-of-navigation patrols close to Chinese
claimed islands in what is one of the world’s business trade routes. AGENCIES