Speaking during an inspection of national defence work in coastal regions of east China’s Zhejiang Province, General Chang called for recognition of the seriousness of the national security situation, especially the threat from the sea, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
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Japan has no right to make carping comments on China’s legitimate activities near Diaoyu Islands, Hua said, stressing that China’s determination to safeguard territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests is “unshakable”.
China claims all most all of the South China Sea.
The Hague-based worldwide arbitration court said there is no legal basis for China’s “historic claims” of ownership to islands and reefs in the disputed South China Sea under its so-called nine-dash line.
As examples of China’s heavy-handed actions, the white paper points to the entry by Chinese naval vessels in June into Japan’s contiguous zone just outside its territorial waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
The country’s supreme court on Tuesday said fishermen illegally entering Chinese waters a few times in a year will be subject to fines and up to a year in jail.
Chang’s comments came several weeks after an global tribunal dismissed the country’s claim to most of the South China Sea, a judgement it angrily rejected.
The SPC move is seen as an attempt to provide legal cover to China’s maritime claims over nearly all of the South China Sea in the backdrop of the July 12 judgement of the tribunal appointed by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) quashing China’s nine-dash-line claim over the SCS.
The article mocked Australia as a “paper cat” and said if the country stepped into the contested waters, it would be an ‘ideal target for China to warn and strike’.
The white paper said China was “poised to fulfil its unilateral demands without compromise” including efforts “to turn these coercive changes to the status quo into a fait accompli”.
China did not take part in the tribunal proceedings initiated by the Philippines in 2013 and has rejected the ruling for “exceeding” its jurisdiction.
In his viewpoint, the sea disputes will be causing more conflict of the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) between China and major powers; China will be able to push through with building marine nuclear plants; and, China will continue to hold military exercises over the disputed waters.
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The tribunal announced in July: ‘The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’. The review also raises concerns that Kim Jong-un might have acquired a missile that could potentially hit targets as far away as 10,000 kms (6,200 miles).
