China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including islands more than 800 miles (1,200 kilometers) from the Chinese mainland, despite objections from neighbors including the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
Advertisement
Tokyo and Beijing have also traded barbs over an alleged encounter in the skies over the East China Sea in June in which China claimed that an Air Self-Defense Force fighter jet used fire-control radar to “light up” a Chinese aircraft, a provocative action.
Xi, however, has resisted mounting calls for China to attack the U.S. Navy, the Philippines and Vietnam. Reuters was not able to immediately verify the content of the messages.
In its white paper Japan also expressed concern over increased activity in the East China Sea, where the two countries have competing claims to small uninhabited islets called the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China.
China has sent a clear warning to foreigners who enter contested areas of the South China Sea – stay away or you’ll be prosecuted.
Vietnam’s vice transport minister, Nguyen Nhat, said the content displayed by the hackers offended his nation and the Philippines, Thanh Nien news reported, without elaborating.
China’s Supreme Court said on Tuesday that people caught illegally fishing in Chinese waters could be jailed for up to a year, issuing a judicial interpretation defining those waters as including China’s exclusive economic zones.
The PCA ruled in favor of the Philippines on July 12, in the case of Philippines v. China, concluding that China has no legal basis to claim rights to the Spratly Islands, as well as the bulk of the South China Sea.
China lodged a “solemn” protest with Japan over the defence white paper, state broadcaster CCTV said in Beijing.
Yang said the exercises weren’t targeted at any third parties.
A USA warship in May sailed close to a disputed reef that China has built up into an artificial island, prompting Beijing to express “dissatisfaction and opposition”.
Wang Ping, a senior researcher of Japanese studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Abe is trying to push Japan to become a military power, and nominating a right-wing politician is part of his efforts.
“Filled with hostility to the Chinese military, it stirs up trouble between China and its neighbors, and attempts to deceive the worldwide community, ” Wu said.
The United States has said it will continue naval patrols close to reefs and outcrops claimed by China to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, a move which has angered Beijing.
The President said that the U.S. believes every nation should respect global law, including the East Sea.
Advertisement
According to USA -based defense expert Andrew S. Erickson, the world has not paid enough attention to what he calls China’s “maritime militia,” or “irregular forces [that] have been an important element of Chinese maritime force structure and operations”. “For us to fly through that, we wouldn’t see that as a change in the way we do business”.
