Japan is considering joining the sea patrols being conducted by the U.S.in the disputed South China Sea in a move that is likely to infuriate China.
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A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment.
Aquino said freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea must be in line with worldwide law. This has caused ripples of alarm in much of East Asia about China’s intentions and freedom of navigation in a waterway through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes annually. Those patrols have been angering China since October.
Tensions remain heightened between Washington and Beijing over the Chinese encroachment in the region.
Opening the summit at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, the prime minister called on all parties to the disputes to exercise restraint, state-run Bernama news agency reported. Liu asked. “We hope regional countries and those outside the region will make positive and constructive contribution to our efforts to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea”.
Beijing Times quoted Swift as saying the South China Sea issue should not affect bilateral relations, but did not include Swift’s replies to Wu’s admonishments.
“If the United States carries out repeated provocations despite China’s opposition, we have the ability to defend our national sovereignty and security”, Shengli added.
In the current scenario the US being drawn into a conflict between China and Vietnam can not be entirely ruled out. “It can not sabotage other nations’ sovereignty and security”.
Chito Romana, a Manila-based adviser on China’s foreign policies, said the arbitration case was triggered by a 70-day standoff between Chinese and the Philippines vessels near Scarborough Shoal in 2012, with both sides refusing to withdraw their ships from the disputed area.
Second, sovereign countries directly concerned undertake, in accordance with universally recognized principles of worldwide law, including UNCLOS of 1982, to peacefully settle sovereign and jurisdictional disputes through friendly consultation and negotiation, said Li.
The USA administration stated earlier that it did not welcome closer cooperation between Moscow and Tokyo. According to figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority, China was the country’s second largest trading partner in 2014 with total trade worth $18.337 billion or 14.3 percent of the total trade. Taiwan and Vietnam have also made similar claims. One shows a marker with Chinese characters that read: “Monument to aquacultural workers who died on China’s Nansha [Spratly] Islands, Meiji Jiao [Mischief Reef]”. The most advanced is on Fiery Cross Reef. Alleging that Beijing is attempting to change the legal status of such features the USA has declared that would be deploying naval vessels and aircraft near the elevations or rocks that China has turned into artificial ‘islands’. They also need to think creatively about a diplomatic resolution that could start with negotiating fishing rights and then rights to oil and gas resources.
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During war, the facilities would be “easy targets”, Harris said. The growing tension poses a threat to the region’s stability. According to the World Socialist Website Washington is exploiting China’s longstanding territorial disputes with other countries in the SCS purely to America’s own advantage.
