China denies reports on plan to monitor Ieodo with drones: sources | YONHAP NEWS
China denies reports on plan to monitor Ieodo with drones: sources
SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) -- China has denied reports that it plans to use unmanned drones to conduct marine surveillance of Ieodo and clarified that it has no intention to lay claim to the submerged rock in waters off South Korea's southern coast, diplomatic sources in Seoul said Wednesday.
Quoting an official at the Chinese State Oceanic Administration, some Chinese newspapers reported last month that Beijing plans to use unmanned aircraft by 2015 to monitor uninhabited islands or islets claimed by it and other neighboring countries such as Japan and the Philippines. The reports said Ieodo, controlled by South Korea, would also be among them.
The reports sparked concerns in South Korea that the Chinese plan may be intended to lay jurisdiction over Ieodo.
In response to Seoul's query, China has recently clarified that those reports do not represent its official position and reflect only "a personal opinion" of the official quoted, the sources said.
The Chinese official just "mentioned the extent of the surveillance organization's work from a technical aspect," the Beijing government said in its reply to Seoul, according to the sources.
China emphasized in its reply that Ieodo should not be a subject of territorial dispute between the two countries, the sources said.
South Korea, therefore, will not lodge a formal protest against the purpoted Chinese plan, a South Korean foreign ministry official told Yonhap News Aency.
"It would be difficult for the government to lodge a protest through formal diplomatic channel since the plan can't be seen as intended to lay jurisdictional claim to Ieodo," the official said, requesting that he not to be named.
Ieodo, which is 4.6 meters under sea level, lies within the overlapping exclusive economic zones of South Korea and China. Although international maritime law stipulates that a submerged rock cannot be claimed as territory by any country, South Korea effectively controls Ieodo, which is closer to it than any other country.
South Korea has taken steps to reinforce its control over the islet and in 2003 built an unmanned maritime research station on it to monitor weather conditions and survey maritime features in the area.
Ieodo is located 149 kilometers southwest of Korea's southernmost island of Marado and 247 kilometers northeast of the nearest Chinese island Tongdao.
South Korea and China have been in negotiations to delineate their exclusive economic zones in waters near Ieodo since 1996, but no agreement has been reached.
