China says can build what it wants on South China Sea isles

[xhw1986]

China can build whatever it wants on its islands in the South China Sea, a senior Chinese official said on Monday, rejecting proposals ahead of a key regional meeting to freeze any activity that may raise tensions in disputed waters there.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers this week hold security talks with counterparts, including those from the United States and China, in Myanmar, with escalating tensions over maritime disputes in Asia likely to be a major issue.

The Philippines will propose a freeze on all activity that raises tension in disputed waters in the South China Sea as part of a three-part plan at the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting, Manila's foreign minister said last week.

The United States, a close ally and former colonial power in the Philippines, has also called on all parties to halt activity in the disputed sea to ease tension.

Manila has accused China of carrying out reclamation work on at least three shoals in the Spratly Islands, where most of the overlapping claims lie, especially between China and the Philippines.

Yi Xianliang, deputy head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Boundary and Ocean Affairs Departments, told reporters that China had every right to build on its islands as a way of improving basic living conditions there.

"The Spratly Islands are China's intrinsic territory, and what China does or doesn't do is up to the Chinese government. Nobody can change the government's position," Yi said.

It was a double standard to bring this issue up now when other countries had been doing similar things for years, he added.

"Why is it that when other countries wantonly build airports, nobody says a word? But China has only this year started small and necessary construction, to raise living conditions on the islands - and so many people raise doubts."

Hong Kong media have reported that China is planning to build an air base on Fiery Cross Reef, though Yi said he was unaware of any such plans.

Yi said that proposals for a "freeze" on tension-raising activities were not helpful, and could be seen as an effort to undermine drawn-out efforts by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for a code of conduct in the South China Sea by acting as a replacement for the code.

If the United States had come up with such a proposal then he had not seen it, Yi said, adding that in any case the South China Sea was an issue for those countries directly involved.

"Trust in us Asian people to use Asian means and wisdom to resolve our own problems," he said.

China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to contain oil and gas deposits and has rich fishery resources. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also lay claim to parts of the sea, where about $5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes every year.

China's placing of an oil rig in waters also claimed by Vietnam around the Paracel Islands in May added to regional concerns about China's intentions. However, China removed the rig last month.

 

[Raphael]

Damn right. No can dictate to us how to govern our sovereign territory. These same countries whore out their land to build foreign military bases, and then whore out their women by stationing them in brothels built right next to the military bases. Now they want to export their anti-sovereign prostitution culture to us. Unfortunately, we put a premium on our sovereignty. No compromises at all.

 

[Oldman1]

Damn right. No can dictate to us how to govern our sovereign territory. These same countries whore out their land to build foreign military bases, and then whore out their women by stationing them in brothels built right next to the military bases. Now they want to export their anti-sovereign prostitution culture to us. Unfortunately, we put a premium on our sovereignty. No compromises at all.

Wait, they are building foreign military bases in South China Sea? China's territory???

 

[EastSea]

Damn right. No can dictate to us how to govern our sovereign territory. These same countries whore out their land to build foreign military bases, and then whore out their women by stationing them in brothels built right next to the military bases. Now they want to export their anti-sovereign prostitution culture to us. Unfortunately, we put a premium on our sovereignty. No compromises at all.

occupation with force is illegal. China territory is ended at Hainan Island.

 

[TheTruth]

occupation with force is illegal. China territory is ended at Hainan Island.

Vietnam's territory is ended at Indrapura.

 

[Jlaw]

So this is news that China can build whatever they want in their territory? Are the Western news very slow today?

 

[BoQ77]

an interesting fact, China never ever claim what inside their dashed line is their territory.
as they never explain what the meaning by that dashed line ... Ohoh

and always deny to explain that ...

They must start the WW3 to re-arrange the world order.

Wait, they are building foreign military bases in South China Sea? China's territory???

I think they means Philippines are building military base ( Oyster) in Philippines undisputed island.
Don't know why that's their business ...

But must admit that China can do nothing if USA stationed at that bases and track all move of Chinese in Spratlys ..

 

[Oldman1]

an interesting fact, China never ever claim what inside their dashed line is their territory.
as they never explain what the meaning by that dashed line ... Ohoh

and always deny to explain that ...

They must start the WW3 to re-arrange the world order.



I think they means Philippines are building military base ( Oyster) in Philippines undisputed island.
Don't know why that's their business ...

But must admit that China can do nothing if USA stationed at that bases and track all move of Chinese in Spratlys ..

Well its not really hard since islands don't move much around. And U.S. has submarines and recon planes in the area to watch the region.

 

[BoQ77]

China turning rocks into artificial islands in SCS
---------------------------------
China Rejects Proposed ‘Freeze’ on Provocative South China Sea Moves
A Chinese official dismissed the U.S. and Philippines’ call for a freeze on provocative moves in disputed maritime areas.

By Shannon Tiezzi
August 05, 2014

A Chinese official rejected a U.S. and Philippine-backed plan for a “freeze” on provocative actions in the South China Sea, Reuters reports. Yi Xianliang, the deputy director of the Boundary and Ocean Affairs Department in China’s Foreign Ministry, called the proposal unhelpful in comments to reporters on Monday. Yi further argued that the proposed freeze would undermine negotiations on a China-ASEAN code of conduct in the South China Sea.

The U.S. made it clear back in mid-July that it believes a freeze on provocative actions would be helpful in the South China Sea. Michael Fuchs, a deputy assistant secretary of state in the East Asian and Pacific Affairs bureau, said as much to an audience at CSIS in Washington, DC. Fuchs, speaking at an annual conference on South China Sea issues, said that the U.S. had called for all claimant states “to clarify and agree to voluntarily freeze certain actions and activities that escalate the disputes and cause instability.” He explained that deciding what particular actions would be included in the freeze “would ultimately be up to the claimants,” but mentioned several possibilities: no new outposts, no new seizure of territories, and no construction or land reclamation (minus an exception for “routine maintenance operations”). Fuchs argued that “exercising self-restraint via this type of voluntary freeze would create a conducive and positive environment for negotiations on a China-ASEAN Code of Conduct and dramatically lower the risk of a dangerous incident.”

The Philippines has since taken up the call for a voluntary freeze, with officials saying they plan to present such a proposal at the September ASEAN Summit to be held in Myanmar (they are also supposed to raise the issue at the ASEAN Regional Forum this weekend). According to the Philippine Star,Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario called the proposed freeze “constructive” and “positive.” He also said that other countries welcomed the initiative.

The freeze would be the first step of Manila’s proposed “Triple Action Plan,” which lays out a framework for dealing with South China tensions in the short term, medium term, and long term. The Philippines envisions the freeze not as a new measure, but as a clarification of what actions are already proscribed under the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration of Conduct on the South China Sea. Under that agreement, China and ASEAN members agreed “to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability.”

Yi Xianlang, however, said that negotiations over a “freeze” would undermine the more important task of finalizing a code of conduct in the South China Sea, as the freeze could be seen as replacing a formal CoC. He also spoke out against what he called a “double standard” toward construction and reclamation projects in the South China Sea. “Why is it that when other countries wantonly build airports, nobody says a word? But China has only this year started small and necessary construction, to raise living conditions on the islands — and so many people raise doubts,” Reuters quoted Yi as saying.

Yi’s comments make it clear that China intends to carry out its construction activities in the South China Sea. “Nobody can change the government’s position,” Yi said. He further dismissed U.S. support for a proposed freeze as interference, saying the U.S. should let directly involved parties handle the issue. “Trust in us Asian people to use Asian means and wisdom to resolve our own problems,” Yi said.

Indeed, U.S. support for the freeze may have killed any chance of China agreeing to the proposal. Writing for the South China Morning Post, Mark Valencia of the Nautilus Institute and Hainan’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies notes that China “rejected the idea [of a freeze] outright” because the proposal came from Washington. Because the freeze was backed by the Philippines and the U.S., China assumes its provisions (which have yet to be negotiated) would be detrimental to China’s interest in furthering its territorial claims.

 

[Raphael]

Wait, they are building foreign military bases in South China Sea? China's territory???

No, I said they were doing so own their own land, which necessarily excludes the islands of the South China Sea which have nothing to do with them.

 

[Grand Historian]

I don't care...call what ever you want at least I know my ancestor writing unlike you.

Its so boring conversing with EastSea he just parrots the same debunked assumptions and tries to peddle it as "history".

I'm sure you've seen my posts before,he either directly ignores them or goes on wild tangents.

 

[BoQ77]

Its so boring conversing with EastSea he just parrots the same debunked assumptions and tries to peddle it as "history".

I'm sure you've seen my posts before,he either directly ignores them or goes on wild tangents.

,Hi, what is your opinion about China dashed line ?
any legal bases to claim for the water area near Natuna island ( indonesia ) and James Shoal ( Malaysia ) ?

 

[terranMarine]

Its so boring conversing with EastSea he just parrots the same debunked assumptions and tries to peddle it as "history".

I'm sure you've seen my posts before,he either directly ignores them or goes on wild tangents.

I'm surprised you have managed to debunk them for so long, talking about will power

 

[Raphael]

Its so boring conversing with EastSea he just parrots the same debunked assumptions and tries to peddle it as "history".

I'm sure you've seen my posts before,he either directly ignores them or goes on wild tangents.

I never reply to that thing when it harasses me as I'm convinced it's a bot. There are certain words that trigger its sensors, and then that thing will let loose with the same diatribe about "illegal occupation", followed up with the "holko is not han" speech. Never any variation. At this rate, it seems doubtful that Vietnamese software can ever pass the Turing test .

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Its so boring conversing with EastSea he just parrots the same debunked assumptions and tries to peddle it as "history".

I'm sure you've seen my posts before,he either directly ignores them or goes on wild tangents.

Conversing the history with a person that can't even read their ancient text book and rely on Chinese for translation is like talk to the wall for me, even Japaneses are smarter, they know how to preserve Kanji to learn Japan uppon a time.