The remark was made in response to media reports suggesting that the drill is related to the recent so-called arbitration case on the South China Sea, which the Philippines had unilaterally filed against China.
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Dozens of Vietnamese who gathered for an anti-China protest in central Hanoi were taken away by authorities yesterday as they tried to rally support for an global tribunal’s ruling rejecting Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea.
“This kind of military freedom of navigation is damaging to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, and it could even play out in a disastrous way”, he said, without elaborating. However, it did not provide details on the nature of the exercises.
Manila has so far been keen not to rock the boat in the hope of starting dialogue towards Beijing allowing it to exercise what the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled were its sovereign maritime rights. “Of course it can help to improve our working and personal relationship”, Wu said.
The announcement came during a three-day visit to China by US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson to discuss the South China Sea dispute and ways to increase interaction between the two militaries, which continue to have a tense relationship.
Beijing responded by reiterating that the islands in the South China Sea are “China’s inherent territory”, adding that it could declare an air defense identification zone over the waters if it felt threatened.
The Council on Foreign Relations noted in 2015 that 5.3 trillion dollars of world goods moved through the South China Sea, with 1.2 trillion of that bound for US shores.
But at the same he said China consistently opposed “so-called military freedom of navigation” referring a number of United States military vessels passing through waters close to artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea. Blair said the objective of such an action was not to pick a fight with China at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, but to set a limit on its military coercion.
It has reacted angrily to calls by Western countries and Japan for the decision to be adhered to.
China’s island development has inflamed regional tensions, with many fearing that Beijing will use the construction of new islands complete with airfields and military facilities to extend its military reach and perhaps try to restrict navigation.
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Vietnam has its own sovereignty disputes with China, but has been reserved in its comments on last week’s verdict, welcoming it but not saying if Hanoi would pursue the same legal path as the Philippines.
