Construction on S.China Sea is 'something we have to do': FM official
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang raised a five-pronged proposal to uphold and promote peace and stability in the South China Sea on Sunday, calling on countries outside the region to refrain from taking actions that may cause tensions in the region. [Special coverage]
Li raised the proposal at the 10th East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after the US and Japan blamed China for its reclamation and construction in the South China Sea.
The proposal calls on all countries to make the commitment to observe the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and defend the outcome of WWII and post-war order, cherish hard-won peace and jointly safeguard world and regional peace and stability, including in the South China Sea.
This is the second response from Li to the South China Sea dispute in two days. Li said on Saturday during the 18th ASEAN-China (10+1) leaders meeting that the South China Sea disputes should have been addressed by directly concerned countries through negotiations and talks. Instead, they have been played up to become a problem concerning the South China Sea's peace and stability and the freedom of navigation.
The Chinese premier was in Malaysia from Friday for the 18th ASEAN-China (10+1) leaders meeting, the 18th ASEAN-China, Japan and South Korea (10+3) leaders meeting and the 10th East Asia Summit.
"Premier Li's proposal is a strong response to the US and Japan's recent provocation," Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow with the National Institute for the South China Sea, told the Global Times.
In the proposal, Li said that countries from outside the region should respect and support the efforts by countries in the region to uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea and play a positive and constructive role. They should refrain from taking actions that may cause tension in the region.
According to Liu Feng, a Hainan Province-based maritime expert, "countries from outside the region" is an indirect reference to the US and Japan.
US President Barack Obama said on Sunday that countries should stop building artificial islands and militarizing their claims in the disputed South China Sea. On Saturday, he met with counterparts from ASEAN and they issued a joint statement stressing the need to maintain freedom of navigation and over-flight rights in the South China Sea.
The report also said that Obama backed ASEAN countries' calls for progress with China on agreeing on a code of conduct at sea to prevent conflict.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also voiced "serious concerns" over China's large-scale reclamation work on Saturday, claiming that such "unilateral action would change the status quo and raise regional tensions, Japan's Kyodo News reported Sunday.
As two countries outside of the region, the US and Japan have ulterior motives to complicate the South China Sea issue, Liu said.
The US wants to promote its Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) in the region. Heating up the South China Sea dispute may sabotage economic cooperation among China and ASEAN nations, which is beneficial for US national interests, he said.
Japan, on the other hand, wants to use the South China Sea disputes to expand its influence in the region and gain more political leverage over its disputes with China over the East China Sea, Liu said.
"The proposal reiterates China's stance on the South China Sea dispute, telling the US and Japan not to meddle in issues that are not their concern," Liu noted.
In the proposal, Li added that all countries undertake to exercise the freedom of navigation and over-flight in the South China Sea in accordance with international law.
"The proposal opposes the US and Japanese accusation that China is sabotaging freedom of navigation in the region," Liu said.
The construction carried out by China on its own islands and reefs in the South China Sea is something "we have to do" for the sake of improving living conditions for people there as well as better fulfillment of China's International obligation, Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said Sunday, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.
China will continue to construct military facilities on artificial islands it is building, Reuters quoted Liu as saying on Sunday. The facilities are needed to protect the islands, he said, according to Reuters.
