According to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 40 of the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea are occupied by other countries: Viet Nam occupies 29, the Philippines eight, and sovereignty over the remainder of the occupied islands has been claimed by Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Unfair criticism
In addition to U.S. Navy aircraft's close-in reconnaissance on Chinese islands, U.S. officials have increased the volume of their outbursts against China's construction. When giving a speech to young cadets from the U.S. Navy Academy recently, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden claimed that China is the destabilizing factor in the South China Sea and that the United States should keep peace in the region "as it has for the past 60 years."
Furthermore, before the Shangri-La Dialogue, in response to the U.S. reconnaissance operation over some Chinese reefs on May 28, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said at a military ceremony in Hawaii that U.S. military aircraft and warships would continue to operate in the area as some countries were "increasing demand for American engagement in the Asia-Pacific." In his keynote speech at the Shangri-La meeting, Carter once again demanded China stop the island-building activities, declaring that China is "out of step with both the international rules and norms" and that the United States "will continue to protect freedom of navigation and overflight in the region."
In response to Carter's speech, Rear Admiral Guan Youfei, Director of Foreign Affairs Office of China's National Defense Ministry, told Chinese media that Carter's declarations were groundless. "Freedom of navigation in the South China Sea has never been affected by Chinese activity. Freedom should be for the benefits of economic development, not military aircraft and vessels."
In fact, as a major exporter, China attaches great importance to navigational freedom and security in the South China Sea, said Major General Yao Yunzhu, Director of the Center on China-America Defense Relations, Academy of Military Science of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Rather than affecting freedom of navigation, Yao told Beijing Review that the facilities China constructs on these islands will make navigation safer for all countries in the region.
Based on information from the Chinese National Defense Ministry, China has built an oceanic survey station for the UN on Yongshu Reef and is constructing two lighthouses on the Huayang and Chigua reefs in the Nansha Islands. The two 50-meter lighthouses are designed to have a light range of 22 nautical miles. As sea and weather conditions in the South China Sea are unpredictable, lighthouses and other projects can facilitate the people in many aspects, including maritime search and rescue, disaster relief, scientific research, navigation security, meteorological observation and other services.
With these facilities, passing ships, Chinese or foreign, will be saved from any danger in a much shorter time. If there were more maritime search facilities, the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which has been missing since March 2014, might have been found, suggested Yao.
"In the past, China was always seen as a 'free rider;' now, as an emerging power, it is assuming more international responsibilities to contribute to global prosperity," Yao said.
Observers also noticed that the U.S. accusations of China have no legal basis. China's island-building doesn't violate any international laws.
Yao stressed that China's island construction activity is legitimate, justified and reasonable. "The islands and reefs in the South China Sea are all within the sovereign territory of China. China's building facilities on the islands is equivalent to a home-owner decorating his own house," Yao added.
In addition, the United States' double standards on land reclamation activities in the region also make its accusation on Beijing even less grounded. While pointing an accusatory finger at China, Washington has chosen to remain silent on such activities conducted earlier by some other countries, including Viet Nam and the Philippines—both of which have been building on geographical features they control.
"These activities are also seen in other parts of the world and no prevailing international law prohibits such activities," said Yao.
Despite this, Carter stressed that China has reclaimed a much larger area, more than all other claimants combined and more than in the entire history of the region.
Yao noted that the U.S. defense secretary has seemingly forgotten China's economic status and capacity.
In the speech delivered at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Admiral Sun Jianguo, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army and head of the Chinese delegation, has given a direct answer: "China is a major country, and the construction's scale and pace are in line with the international responsibilities and obligations it assumes in the South China Sea."
Statistics from the World Bank shows that China's GDP in 2014 reached $10.355 trillion, about 40 times that of the Philippines and 60 times that of the Viet Nam.
