China has found itself on the receiving end of criticism from many Asia-Pacific leaders over its recent aggressive actions to enforce territorial claims to the South China Sea.
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Tensions between the USA and China rose last month after the US conducted a freedom of navigation operation by sailing the USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, within 12 nautical miles of an island China has built on a previously semi-submerged reef.
Beijing has displayed irritation with Washington’s expressions of support for the claims of China’s neighbors, and once again refused to budge on the issue in Kuala Lumpur.
On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama called on China to stop land reclamation in the disputed waters.
Obama has committed to boosting economic growth and improving human rights.
The Kuala Lumpur diplomatic and political meetings follow a trade-related forum in Manila earlier in the week that included numerous same leaders.
Chinese state media hit what it described as USA meddling over the sea.
Meanwhile, Washington is trying to woo the regional powers as Obama sealed an ASEAN-US strategic partnership, of which “maritime cooperation” was a key element.
At the same time, it has promised to continue reclaiming islands in the region.United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also recently weighed in on the ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea, calling on all parties to use restraint and to solve their disagreements peacefully.
Even if Japan doesn’t get involved in a direct military fashion in the South China Sea, it can still play a role in supplying the contestants. With United States support, the Philippines is now engaged in a legal challenge to Chinese claims in the South China Sea.
But defence minister Gen Nakatani played down the suggestion after bilateral meetings with Australian counterpart Marise Payne and foreign minister Julie Bishop in Sydney.
Mr Liu said that, out of 1,000 islands, reefs and atolls in the vast sea, China has occupied only seven small islands and reefs in waters under its jurisdiction.
Japan also backed the United States to the hilt. Tokyo is already providing patrol vessels to the Philippines and Vietnam. “President Obama’s attendance at the meetings itself is, to the region, very significant”, said Joseph Chinyong Liow, professor of comparative and global politics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
In a report published on the Chinese defense ministry’s website on Thursday, China’s top admiral, Wu Shengli, said his forces have shown “enormous restraint” in the face of USA provocations in the South China Sea, while warning they stand ready to respond to repeated breaches of Chinese sovereignty. That is all well and good, but now comes the first serious test of their political unity.
“For the sake of regional stability, claimants should halt reclamation, new construction, and militarisation of disputed areas”, Obama said Saturday.
A Chinese official quoted Premier Li Keqiang as telling Sunday’s closed-door summit that countries “from outside the region” should refrain from inciting tensions in the maritime dispute. These actions have been largely condemned both by the West and the countries of the region, as Beijing might allegedly threaten peaceful navigation in the region.
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“We need to unite”, he told the East Asian leaders.
