Adm. Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Chinese military’s Joint Staff Department, dismissed what he characterized as USA interference in Asian security issues, and rebuffed allegations Beijing risked isolating itself through its assertive behavior and expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea.
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“We would consider an ADIZ, an ADIZ zone, over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilising act, which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China’s commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea”, Mr Kerry said.
Kerry had also urged China not to move unilaterally over the dispute triggering possible provocations.
“We will not recognize any ADIZ by China”, Taiwan Defence Minister Feng Shih-kuan told lawmakers in parliament.
The United States sternly criticized China’s construction of military installations in the South China Sea, and Japan joined in that criticism.
Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission, said on Sunday during the 15th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the U.S, the United Kingdom, and Japan’s per capita military expenditure averages between $200,000 and $300,000 USA dollars, while China’s is only $60,000 US dollars.
Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have competing claims in the sea.
If the non-binding ruling is unfavorable to China, it might respond by putting structures on the shoal to give it a military outpost on the Philippines’ door.
The negotiations, however, are overshadowed by a growing rift over the South China Sea.
Manila says China took effective control of Scarborough Shoal in 2012, stationing patrol vessels and shooing away Filipino fishermen, after a two-month stand-off with the Philippine Navy. “We don’t make trouble but we don’t fear trouble”.
Other island nations, including the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Naura all have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, not China.
Hua called the so-called problem of the navigation and overflight freedom a “pseudo-proposition” because there has never been a problem. We’re not isolated, and we will not be isolated in the future.
He said he had told his Chinese counterpart it was extremely important that communication lines, sea lanes and skies remained open in the South China Sea.
US concerns about Chinese trade policy and the difficulty foreign businesses say they face operating in China will add to what will likely be hard discussions.
Despite repeated notes of concern from countries such as Japan, India, Vietnam and South Korea, Sun rejected the prospect of isolation, saying numerous countries present at the security forum were “warmer” and “friendlier” to China than a year ago.
With countries such as the United Kingdom and Netherlands sending ships to the area from time to time, France is interested in better coordinating patrols to ensure there is no long gap without an European Union presence in the area, according to the official, who asked not to be identified, citing policy.
China has been angered by what it views as provocative US military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea.
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About $5 trillion of annual trade passes through the South China Sea, which is also believed to hold significant oil and gas reserves.
