“The South China Sea is China’s territory, so we are more concerned than any other country, institution, or individual around the world regarding the ecological environmental preservation of the atolls and sea areas”, said Hong Lei, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, in a TV interview with China Central Television.
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China publicly says it welcomes the Obama administration’s decision to lift an arms embargo on Vietnam, although privately, Beijing is likely less than pleased to see warming relations between its southern neighbor and chief regional rival. It has not undermined and will not undermine freedom of navigation in one of the busiest worldwide sea routes.
The U.S. intends to maintain economic sanctions on Russian Federation in response to the annexation of Crimea. Ma also stressed China’s right to build facilities on some of the islands and reefs.
China’s positions regarding the South China Sea has been very clear, as it subscribes to global law and the Declaration of Conduct in the South China Sea and seeks the peaceful settlement of disputes through dialogue and negotiations with parties directly concerned, Wang said. “Countries across the region – allies, partners, and the unaligned – are voicing concerns publicly and privately at the highest levels”.
Yang Yujun, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, told a press conference that China’s aircraft acted professionally and in line with a China-U.S. encounter safety code agreed by both sides previous year.
“According to the related Chinese authorities, the USA allegation is not true”, Hong said. “Certainly if you wanted to dial those up in frequency, well I think that we can support that”.
It was unclear if China would open any of the islands in the disputed Spratly archipelago southeast of the Paracels to tourists.
Richardson noted that freedom of navigation operations happen hundreds of times a year in the backyards of friends and foes.
Beijing has already made it clear that it would not allow any discussion of political matters at the summit, indicating that any discussion on South and East China Sea issues would not be tolerated.
China began tourist cruises to the South China Sea on a trial basis in 2013, as part of efforts to cement its claims by boosting the civilian presence there.
Under the Law of the Sea, a country can claim up to 12 nautical miles beyond its coastline.
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“We begin to touch on some of the key security issues that are important to all of us”.
