China’s Naval Chief Visited Disputed Islands in the South China Sea, Taiwan Says
By BREE FENG
October 16, 2014 5:28 amOctober 16, 2014 5:28 am Comment
A surveillance photograph, released in May by the Philippines Foreign Affairs Department, of a Chinese vessel, top center, deployed to expand land and structures on a reef in the Spratly Islands.
A surveillance photograph, released in May by the Philippines Foreign Affairs Department, of a Chinese vessel, top center, deployed to expand land and structures on a reef in the Spratly Islands.Credit Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, via Associated Press
In the latest turn in the continuing territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Taiwan’s top intelligence official has said that the Chinese naval chief surveyed islands in the strategic waterway where China has been carrying out land reclamation work despite protests from other countries in the region, Hong Kong and Taiwanese news media reported on Thursday.
Speaking at a meeting in Taipei on Wednesday of the Foreign and Defense Committee of the Legislative Yuan, Lee Hsiang-chou, the director general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, said that Adm. Wu Shengli, the commander of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, conducted a survey of five islands in the disputed Spratly archipelago last month. Calling the trip “unprecedented,” Mr. Lee said that Admiral Wu had made the weeklong trip on a military ship in order to inspect the land reclamation work that China has been conducting on the islands in recent months, according to Takungpao, a Hong Kong newspaper.
Takungpao, as well as the Taiwan-based United Daily News, also reported Mr. Lee as saying that President Xi Jinping of China had personally approved the reclamation work, which alarmed Southeast Asian nations that also claim sovereignty over the Spratly Island group when it was revealed earlier this year. Using a dredging vessel, China has been slowly turning several reefs into islands. Other claimants fear that Beijing wants to build military facilities on these land features, including an air base, in order to strengthen its claims.
The media reports did not identify all the South China Sea islands Mr. Lee was referring to, but, citing government reports, The Philippine Star reported last summer that China was carrying out reclamation activities on five reefs of the Spratly Islands that the Philippines also claims.
Mr. Lee’s comments, which were also reported on the website of the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times but whose substance has not been formally confirmed by Beijing, are likely to set off new concerns about China’s territorial aspirations in the South China Sea.
At a regional security conference in May, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel of the United States leveled a rare, pointed criticism at China for what he called “destabilizing, unilateral actions” in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, including “land reclamation activities at multiple locations.”
But it now appears that China has shrugged off these critiques and is intent on consolidating its territorial claims in the potentially resource-rich waters, through which around half of the world’s freight cargo passes.
China claims a large swath of the South China Sea, represented by a nine-dash line drawn from a Nationalist Chinese map in 1947. At its southernmost point, Beijing’s claim extends hundreds of miles from the Chinese mainland, nearly reaching the coastline of several Southeast Asian countries. The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia each claim parts of the sea, and the claims of Taiwan, to which the Nationalist forces retreated after their defeat in the Chinese civil war in 1949, echo those of Beijing.
Mr. Lee’s comments came as Taipei is seeking to fortify its own claims in the sea with new military facilities. Reuters reported on Thursday that Taiwan is considering bolstering its military presence in the South China Sea by stationing ships permanently near disputed islands. The self-governing island, over which Beijing also claims sovereignty, is constructing a $100 million dollar port on Taiping Island in the Spratlys, where it already maintains an airstrip. Set to be completed next year, the port will allow the Taipei-controlled island to host 3,000-ton military and coast guard vessels.
At the meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Lee also said that Admiral Wu had overseen Chinese troop drills at Yongshu Island in the Spratly archipelago. Internationally known as Fiery Cross Reef, the site is about 740 nautical miles south of the Chinese mainland and serves as the administrative and military headquarters of China’s Spratly Island claims. It is home to about 100 troops.
Despite the criticism, it seems that China has continued to assert its claims through what some analysts have dubbed a “salami-slicing” approach, even as it calls for talks on joint development of the seas and says navigational safety will not be threatened. Earlier this year, the Chinese government said it would offer financial subsidies to fishermen who live in the Spratly and Paracel islands of the South China Sea.
Last spring, protests broke out in several cities in Vietnam after China deployed a deep-water oil-drilling platform near an island grouping off Vietnam’s coast that is controlled by China but claimed by Vietnam.
By BREE FENG
October 16, 2014 5:28 amOctober 16, 2014 5:28 am Comment
A surveillance photograph, released in May by the Philippines Foreign Affairs Department, of a Chinese vessel, top center, deployed to expand land and structures on a reef in the Spratly Islands.
A surveillance photograph, released in May by the Philippines Foreign Affairs Department, of a Chinese vessel, top center, deployed to expand land and structures on a reef in the Spratly Islands.Credit Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, via Associated Press
In the latest turn in the continuing territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Taiwan’s top intelligence official has said that the Chinese naval chief surveyed islands in the strategic waterway where China has been carrying out land reclamation work despite protests from other countries in the region, Hong Kong and Taiwanese news media reported on Thursday.
Speaking at a meeting in Taipei on Wednesday of the Foreign and Defense Committee of the Legislative Yuan, Lee Hsiang-chou, the director general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, said that Adm. Wu Shengli, the commander of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, conducted a survey of five islands in the disputed Spratly archipelago last month. Calling the trip “unprecedented,” Mr. Lee said that Admiral Wu had made the weeklong trip on a military ship in order to inspect the land reclamation work that China has been conducting on the islands in recent months, according to Takungpao, a Hong Kong newspaper.
Takungpao, as well as the Taiwan-based United Daily News, also reported Mr. Lee as saying that President Xi Jinping of China had personally approved the reclamation work, which alarmed Southeast Asian nations that also claim sovereignty over the Spratly Island group when it was revealed earlier this year. Using a dredging vessel, China has been slowly turning several reefs into islands. Other claimants fear that Beijing wants to build military facilities on these land features, including an air base, in order to strengthen its claims.
The media reports did not identify all the South China Sea islands Mr. Lee was referring to, but, citing government reports, The Philippine Star reported last summer that China was carrying out reclamation activities on five reefs of the Spratly Islands that the Philippines also claims.
Mr. Lee’s comments, which were also reported on the website of the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times but whose substance has not been formally confirmed by Beijing, are likely to set off new concerns about China’s territorial aspirations in the South China Sea.
At a regional security conference in May, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel of the United States leveled a rare, pointed criticism at China for what he called “destabilizing, unilateral actions” in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, including “land reclamation activities at multiple locations.”
But it now appears that China has shrugged off these critiques and is intent on consolidating its territorial claims in the potentially resource-rich waters, through which around half of the world’s freight cargo passes.
China claims a large swath of the South China Sea, represented by a nine-dash line drawn from a Nationalist Chinese map in 1947. At its southernmost point, Beijing’s claim extends hundreds of miles from the Chinese mainland, nearly reaching the coastline of several Southeast Asian countries. The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia each claim parts of the sea, and the claims of Taiwan, to which the Nationalist forces retreated after their defeat in the Chinese civil war in 1949, echo those of Beijing.
Mr. Lee’s comments came as Taipei is seeking to fortify its own claims in the sea with new military facilities. Reuters reported on Thursday that Taiwan is considering bolstering its military presence in the South China Sea by stationing ships permanently near disputed islands. The self-governing island, over which Beijing also claims sovereignty, is constructing a $100 million dollar port on Taiping Island in the Spratlys, where it already maintains an airstrip. Set to be completed next year, the port will allow the Taipei-controlled island to host 3,000-ton military and coast guard vessels.
At the meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Lee also said that Admiral Wu had overseen Chinese troop drills at Yongshu Island in the Spratly archipelago. Internationally known as Fiery Cross Reef, the site is about 740 nautical miles south of the Chinese mainland and serves as the administrative and military headquarters of China’s Spratly Island claims. It is home to about 100 troops.
Despite the criticism, it seems that China has continued to assert its claims through what some analysts have dubbed a “salami-slicing” approach, even as it calls for talks on joint development of the seas and says navigational safety will not be threatened. Earlier this year, the Chinese government said it would offer financial subsidies to fishermen who live in the Spratly and Paracel islands of the South China Sea.
Last spring, protests broke out in several cities in Vietnam after China deployed a deep-water oil-drilling platform near an island grouping off Vietnam’s coast that is controlled by China but claimed by Vietnam.
