But Beijing is paying close attention to Vietnam’s acquisition of modern weaponry and deployments in the South China Sea, said Ruan Zongze, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank linked to the Foreign Ministry.
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“To uphold freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea is not only an obligation under the worldwide laws”. “And the other crisis is that there are a lot of drugs and we are fighting them on so many fronts”.
In light of this and other procedural violations, Ma indicated that the Philippines’ unilateral arbitration case against China is worthless, making the “award” passed by the Arbitral Tribunal unacceptable to China.
China claims an area defined by the “nine-dash line” and asserts its right to the area going back to centuries ago.
Besides China, Asean countries involved in the overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea are Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. “The Chinese military aircraft conducted identification and verification in accordance with relevant regulations and rules”, Yang said, rejecting the USA accusations as groundless.
“I think the USA feels that it has the responsibility to urge this dispute be resolved peacefully and the freedom of navigation in the area is preserved”.
Cruise ships brought 16,000 tourists on six trips to the Paracel islands – known as Xisha in Chinese – last year, the paper added.
Sansha was controversially created by China in 2012, to “govern” the South China Sea islands and its surrounding waters, an area which covers some 2 million sq km.
The mayor also exercises jurisdiction of the other islands in the Paracels as well as in the Spratly group of islands.
“We will develop some islands and reefs to accommodate a select number of tourists”, said Xiao, who added that the sites to be developed would be ones which did not require a military presence. This month, the European Union said granting market economy status for China at the World Trade Organisation was “untenable” due to the loss of jobs it would cost Europe in key industries such as steel.
“China has always been very positive and constructive in these negotiations and consultations”, he reminded. G7 leaders agreed on Thursday to send a strong message on maritime claims in the western Pacific.
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Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the USA, like other Western nations, merely declared support for the peaceful resolution to the territorial conflict and prevalence of rule of law. “This is China’s right conferred by the worldwide laws”.
