The United States should do nothing to harm China’s sovereignty and security in the South China Sea, China’s foreign minister told US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, ahead of a key court ruling on China’s South China Sea claims.
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Speaking by telephone on Wednesday, Mr Wang Yi told Mr Kerry the U.S. should stick to its promises not to take sides in the dispute.
The United States has meanwhile boosted its military presence in the region, addressing neighboring countries’ concerns about China’s actions.
With a major worldwide court ruling on its South China Sea claims around the corner, Beijing has stepped up its diplomatic outreach and warned the United States against intervention.
The Philippines’ case enraged China, which repeatedly vowed to ignore the tribunal’s ruling and is now holding military drills in the northern part of the sea as a show of force.
“China is a peace-loving country and deals with foreign relations with discretion, but it won’t flinch if the U.S. and its small clique keep encroaching on its interests on its doorstep”, state-run Global Times said in an editorial today.
The flagship newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party has warned Washington that there will be a “price” to pay if it crosses China’s “bottom line” by meddling in disputes over the South China Sea. What if such a deployment could be used in a future war to enforce a blockade against the United States by choking a strategic shipping route that carried 80 percent of USA trade and energy supplies?
A statement issued by China’s defence ministry said that the latest clash between the air force planes of the two countries took place on June 17, and threatened to turn unsafe, when Japanese warplanes used fire-control radar to “light up” their Chinese counterparts and released infrared flares during evasive manoeuvres. “We are not going to get into the details on this private diplomatic conversation”, State Department spokeswoman Gabrielle Price said.
China has reacted negatively to USA patrols in the South China Sea and is due to begin military drills in the waters tomorrow (6 July).
China has repeatedly claimed sovereignty over particular islands and reefs in the South China Sea and its adjacent waters, and has taken steps to protect it.
China is boycotting the case in The Hague-based court and says it will not accept the verdict.
The Virginia-based Navy Times reported this week that three U.S. destroyers the Spruance, Stethem and Momsen have been patrolling near the Chinese-claimed Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands further south.
The Ministry of National Defense confirmed on Tuesday that China would hold a drill in the area between Hainan Island and the Xisha Islands in the first 10 days of July and that military equipment including multiple ships and fixed-wing aircraft would participate.
“What we do – or don’t do – to support our allies and the rules-based worldwide system in the weeks ahead will have echoes across the region and in other corners of the globe”, Forbes said.
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The ambassador informed the meeting that the arbitral tribunal entered deliberations for a final decision after its hearings on the merits and the remaining issues on admissibility held at The Hague, Netherlands from November 24 to 30, 2015. He did say, “All of these patrols are conducted in accordance with global law and all are consistent with routine Pacific Fleet presence throughout the Western Pacific”.
