An global court in The Hague is expected to rule soon on China’s claims in a case brought by the Philippines, although Beijing says it does not respect the court’s jurisdiction and the United Nations body does not have powers of enforcement. With two aircraft carriers, two carrier air wings, three guided-missile cruisers, six guided-missile destroyers and more operating together, they have a rare opportunity to practice conducting major warfare operations.
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Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan said it will never “acknowledge” China’s claim the waters are its traditional fishing ground.
Rear Admiral Marcus Hitchcock said that the Chinese have been a constant presence, but that he didn’t know what ships had been shadowing the strike group or what their objective for being there had been.
The report also said that cruise routes that now take travelers to the Paracel archipelago in the South China Sea would be improved. And we do not make and will not make any action as a country that will cause distress.
“We want to be a neighbour, to have a good relationship with China without sacrificing our sovereignty”. Photographs released by the Navy show it has been there and in other waters south of Japan since it left port. It is traveling with the cruisers USS Shiloh and USS Chancellorsville and the destroyers USS Curtis Wilburg, USS McCampbell and USS Benfold. At the same time, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has struggled to find a consensus position, issuing and then retracting a statement last week which expressed serious concerns about land reclamation activities in the South China Sea.
The United States views the upcoming ruling by the UN Arbitral Tribunal on the South China Sea as an opportunity for China and the rest of the region to recommit to a principled future, to renewed diplomacy, and to lowering tensions, rather than raising them.
The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to discuss the sensitive issue with reporters.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Wednesday said his country had “no overlapping claims in any form in Indonesian waters with China”.
Fears have emerged that China may be trying to corner Indonesia and drag them into the the conflict over the contested region with a third confrontation over allegations of illegal fishing in the Natuna sea within as many months.
A highly-anticipated ruling over Philippine territorial claims in the South China Sea could ratchet up tensions between Washington and Beijing ahead of a key military meeting between the two countries set for next month.
China’s Foreign Ministry said over the weekend that an Indonesian naval vessel fired on a Chinese fishing boat near the chain of islands on Friday, injuring one person.
Hua said the Chinese Coast Guard rescued the injured fisherman, who was transported to the southern Chinese island province of Hainan for treatment.
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Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, told Reuters that China condemned Indonesia’s “indiscriminate use of force”.
