Construction scale, pace fit China's responsibility: FM
The exchange of words between China and the U.S. over the South China Sea issue has intensified in the past few days, as a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Thursday called for the U.S. to stop meddling in the South China Sea with "double standards" and restated China's sovereignty and legitimacy in building facilities in the region.
China's facilities construction in the South China Sea is within China's sovereign rights, and "the pace and scale of this construction fits with China's international responsibilities and obligations as a big country," said Hua Chunying, adding that no one has the right to dictate China's moves in the region.
The "selective silence" of the U.S. toward other countries' illegal occupation and construction on China-owned islands has reflected its "double standards" and political intentions, Hua said at a routine press meeting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing.
Hua's response came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said there should be an immediate end to the construction by China and other countries near the South China Sea, urging participants to stop militarizing the dispute and find a peaceful solution.
Carter said China's island-building efforts were "out of step" with the regional consensus and that U.S. military aircraft and warships would continue to operate in the area as permitted under international law.
"They're increasing demand for American engagement in the Asia-Pacific. We're going to meet it," the U.S. defense chief said in a military ceremony in Hawaii on Wednesday.
Hua referred to the constant U.S. challenging of China's sovereignty in the region as instigations that threaten the stability of a region that is now serving as the world's engine of economic growth, and urged the country to be responsible and constructive in its actions and remarks.
The increasingly sharp remarks by the U.S. are aimed to "internationalize" the South China Sea issue by lining up with countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, and Japan, said Wang Xiaopeng, a maritime border expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Wang described the U.S. as an "illegal agitator" as it is neither located in the South China Sea nor does it have any sovereignty disputes with China in the region.
"The U.S., which lacks the strength to meddle in the South China Sea alone, is encouraging countries like Japan, which has disputes with China over the East China Sea, to interfere in conflicts in the South China Sea," Wang said.
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. These facilities will also serve and assist transiting ships from other countries, Hua noted.
The Ministry of Transport on Tuesday held a ceremony for two 50-meter-tall lighthouses on two islets in the South China Sea. The lighthouses will help with international aviation at this area, authorities said.
The Chinese foreign ministry has recently criticized U.S. surveillance activities over the South China Sea after a U.S. P-8A anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft flew over waters off China's Nansha Islands. The aircraft was asked by Chinese troops to change course over radio.
These surveillance activities will pose a threat to the security of China's maritime features and may cause miscalculations that will lead to maritime and aerial incidents, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said Wednesday.
Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times that the U.S. has assumed a new role in the South China Sea, from previously supporting South Asian countries with their illegal sovereignty claims to becoming more vocal and confrontational in its stance.
Wu believes the possibility of military confrontation remains highly unlikely, if U.S. navy ships stay more than 12 miles off the islands.
Wu expected that the South China Sea issue may be brought up during the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue to be held in June.
