Whether or not the Nine Dash Line has any basis in global law, it is far from the most ridiculous basis for a claim that China has over the sea.
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In 2013, the U.S. says a U.S. Navy cruiser nearly collided with a Chinese warship that cut across its bow in the South China Sea while Vice President Joe Biden was in the Chinese capital.
To date, China has almost completed land reclamation at seven sites in the South China Sea, and has finished work on runways, infrastructure and man-made bases, Harris said.
While U.S. and Chinese diplomats tend to cushion their barbs over who is to blame for militarizing the region, there was little mistaking the meaning of Harris when he testified to Congress this week. The duo discussed the tensions in the South China Sea and joint measures to address North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests.
Hua Chunying’s comments follow a CNN report that China had deployed fighter jets to Yongxing, largest of the island group in the South China Sea.
Woody Island, which is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, has had an operational airfield since the 1990s but it was upgraded a year ago to accommodate the J-11.
China’s claims to nearly all of the South China Sea are widely disputed and the body of water has always been viewed as a potential flashpoint.
The region is also thought to be home to huge, untapped natural gas reserves.
Media reports showing that Beijing has installed a powerful radar station on the Cuarteron Reef (Huayang Reef, 華陽礁) in the Spratlys, along with Chinese deployment of surface-to-air missiles in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), have given rise to concern that tensions in the region are in danger of heating up.
China’s Defence Ministry has downplayed the SAM deployment to the Paracels, accusing the West of manufacturing “hype” over the issue; meanwhile, Foreign Minister Wang Yi justified it as China’s right to establish “limited and necessary self-defence facilities” on land features that it considers as its own, especially in light of what it sees as Washington’s Fonops close to its occupied features.
Instead, Chinese Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai was responsible for the most ridiculous claim for why all of the South China Sea belongs to Beijing. China is brazenly challenging the hegemony that the USA has enjoyed on East Asian seas since World War II, as the top US admiral in the Pacific warns that a shrinking USA military is leaving him without sufficient forces to counter the rising superpower.
New satellite imagery also shows that the Chinese spent the latter half of 2015 constructing radar towers to eliminate any stealth capabilities possessed by us aircraft, such as the F-22 and the F-35.
Kerry said steps by China, Vietnam and others had created an “escalatory cycle”.
“We appreciate the position of India on resolving the South China Sea disputes peacefully, without threat or actual use of force, and early concluding of a code of conduct on the South China Sea”, Vietnamese Ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh said at a workshop on “The South China Sea: Security and economic implications” here.
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Former prime minister Tony Abbott will urge Australia to conduct a freedom-of-navigation exercise in the disputed South China Sea.
