China said on Sunday it will continue to build military and civilian facilities on its artificial islands in the disputed So-uth China Sea and the United States was testing it by sending warships thro
China said on Sunday it will continue to build military and civilian facilities on its artificial islands in the disputed So-uth China Sea and the United States was testing it by sending warships thro-ugh the area. “Building and maintaining necessary military facilities, this is what is required for China’s national defence and for the protection of those islands and reefs,” vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.
China planned to “exp-and and upgrade” the civilian facilities on the islands “to better serve commercial ships, fishermen, to help distressed vessels and provide more public services”, Mr Liu said, adding that China rejects the notion that it is militarising the South China Sea. He said China has mostly built civilian facilities. Mr Liu’s comments at the annual East Asia Summit hosted by Kuala Lumpur, were some of the most forceful explanations that China has given regarding its position on the South China Sea.
Washington was testing Beijing with its insistence on “freedom of navigation” patrols in the strategic waterway, Mr Liu said.
China, which claims almost the entire energy-rich South China Sea, has been transforming reefs into artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago and building airfields and other facilities on some of them. That has prompted concerns in Washington and across the region that Beijing is trying to militarise its claims in the South China Sea.
“This time, in a very high profile manner, the US sent military vessels within 12 nautical miles of China’s islands and reefs,” Liu said. “This has gone beyond the scope of freedom of navigation. It is a political provocation and the purpose is to test China’s response.”
Mr Obama on Saturday called on countries to stop building artificial islands and militarising their claims and said the United States would continue to assert its freedom of navigation rights in the sea.
Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have territorial claims in the South China Sea. Earlier at the summit, China came under renew-ed criticism on Sunday over its rising profile in the South China Sea as it jostled with the United States for regional influence. “The world is watching,” to see if Beijing will behave like a “responsible global leader” in the standoff, Philippine President Benigno Aquino told the assembled leaders.
President Barack Obam-a, who earlier in the week repeated US calls for China to stop the land reclamation, announced on Sund-ay he would host the Asean leaders at a meeting in the United States in 2016. “This region ... Is critical to security, prosperity and human dignity around the world,” he said, while also pledging continued trade, diplomatic, and security support for the region.
Meanwhile, Japan on Sunday backed the US sailing warships close to disputed land in the South China Sea but said it had no plans to send its own maritime forces to support the operation.
Reports last week said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the US President on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Manila he would consider sending his country’s ships to back up American operations in the area.
But defence minister Gen Nakatani played down the suggestion after bilateral meetings with Australian counterpart Marise Payne and foreign minister Julie Bishop in Sydney. “We have actively been trying to contribute to stability in the region but as far as we are concerned there is no plan to be a part of the fr-eedom of navigation operation of the United States,” he said. “At the US-Japan summit (in Manila), I bel-ieve Prime Minister Abe conveyed this stance to President Obama.”
