That has prompted concerns in Washington and across the region that Beijing is trying to militarise its claims in the South China Sea.
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Philippine President Benigno Aquino told an Asia-Pacific summit on Sunday (Nov 22) that “the world is watching” whether China would behave as a responsible power in the simmering standoff over maritime territory.
Kuala Lumpur: U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday told a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders that territorial claimants to waters in the South China Sea should avoid militarising the issue and cease any building of artificial islands.
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.
Liu’s comments also serve to send a notice to China’s rivals in the region that it will not back down from its position on the resource-rich sea, irrespective of pressure from the United States.
Fifth, all countries undertake to exercise and uphold the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea in accordance with global law, he concluded.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak opened the weekend series of meetings on Saturday, calling on world leaders to confront Islamist extremism.
At a separate news conference, Obama said the issue was a “key topic” at the summit of 18 countries that included China, as well as at a separate summit he had with leaders of 10 Southeast Asian countries.
Malaysia has announced it is setting up a “counter-terrrorism” messaging center using social media and other messaging tools. China is building airfields and other facilities on a few of them.
The US and others have called on Beijing to halt the construction, saying they are destabilizing an increasingly militarized region.
Eight years in the making, the AEC, as it is known, seeks to make the diverse region economically and politically better integrated with hopes of competing with the Asian powerhouses China and India.
He also asked the United States to consider the “good development” of ties between the two countries and in this regard he called to “control” their maritime military operations.
However, in August the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterpart in Vietnam, Pham Binh Minh, promised to solve the dispute between the two countries in the South China Sea. “Don’t look for trouble”. Without naming any country, he accused three of them of occupying 42 “illegally”.
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With the waterway a crucial trade passage, he said freedom of navigation and peace and security of the area are crucial to China’s economic expansion. “We are determined to see our arbitration case to its final, legally-binding conclusion, and likewise urge all parties to pursue the establishment of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea”.
