China-built facilities essential against non-traditional threats: analyst
China's efforts in building maritime facilities in the South China Sea are in fulfillment of its duty to safeguard maritime safety as a regional power, observers said Thursday.
Ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Beijing on Saturday, several U.S. officials have expressed a more assertive stance in criticizing China's facility-building work on some islets in the South China Sea, a move seen by analysts as a US attempt to undermine China's legitimacy and contribution in the waters.
Kerry will leave China "in absolutely no doubt" about Washington's commitment to ensuring freedom of navigation and flight in the South China Sea when he visits Beijing this weekend, a senior State Department official said Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The remark came after it was reported Tuesday that another U.S. official allegedly said that the Pentagon was considering sending military aircraft and ships to assert freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded by saying that Beijing was "seriously concerned" and demanded clarification.
Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said that construction projects within the South China Sea fall within the scope of China's sovereignty and that China, as the regional power, is obliged to safeguard maritime safety in the area.
"The facilities served as a platform for maritime search and rescue and humanitarian relief work in the waters of the South China Sea. These facilities have proven their worth in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370," Wu told the Global Times.
Wu added that as the South China Sea is a popular trade route, these China-built facilities are essential in helping to cope with non-traditional security threats in the region, such as piracy, as well as protecting the safety of Chinese fishermen in the waters during storms or typhoons.
One-third of the world's shipping passes through the South China Sea. There are also believed to be huge oil and gas reserves under the seabed.
Hua said earlier in a press conference that the facilities in the region served to facilitate maritime search and rescue, disaster prevention and mitigation, marine science and research, meteorological observation, environmental protection, navigation safety, and fishery production service in the region. These facilities will also serve and assist transiting ships from other countries, Hua added. Wu pointed out that the US government has been under pressure both domestically and from other claimant countries in the South China Sea, and that Kerry's visit is seen as a chance to pressure China.
The top U.S. diplomat's trip is intended to prepare for the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue next month in Washington, DC and for Chinese President Xi Jinping's planned US visit in September. Wu believes Kerry's meeting with senior Chinese leaders is likely to be overshadowed by South China Sea issues.
