ASEAN: Recent militarization in S. China Sea 'erodes trust, confidence'

By Luchi de Guzman, CNN Philippines

Regional leaders expressed concern over the militarization of contested areas in the South China Sea, as the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Singapore drew to a close.

"We discussed the matters relating to the South China Sea and took note of the concerns expressed by some Leaders on the land reclamations and activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region," the leaders said, in the ASEAN Chairman's statement issued Saturday.

Apart from the Philippines and China, ASEAN states Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand also have claims in parts of the South China Sea.

Last February, local news outfit Inquirer.net released photos of China's continued construction of air and naval structures in the contested Spratly group of islands.

"We emphasized the importance of non-militarization and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities by claimants and all other states," the statement read.

ASEAN leaders stressed the need for the implementation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in its entirety, for there to be mutual trust between parties and the pursuit of a peaceful resolution in the conflict in accordance to international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The DOC is a 2002 document meant to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the maritime conflict in the disputed areas.

"We warmly welcomed the improving cooperation between ASEAN and China and were encouraged by the official commencement of the substantive negotiations toward the early conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) on a mutually-agreed timeline," said the statement.

During the ASEAN meeting, President Rodrigo Duterte on the sidelines held bilateral talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

When the Vietnamese leader raised the South China Sea issue, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte told Phuc he is not "abandoning, ignoring, or setting aside" the landmark arbitral ruling that invalidated China's claims over most of South China Sea.

"He made it very clear to a head of state that he recognizes the gains of the arbitral award and that he will refer to the arbitral award in due course," Roque told reporters in Singapore, the summit's venue.

The Chinese government, however, believes it has the right to build structures in the disputed areas.

"The Nansha Islands are China's territory," said Chinese Ministry of Defense Spokesperson Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang in a statement on April 11. The Nansha Islands is the Chinese name for the Spratlys.

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U.S. says will be consequences for China's South China Sea militarization

The United States has raised concerns with China about its latest militarization of the South China Sea and there will be near-term and long-term consequences, the White House said on Thursday.

U.S. news network CNBC reported on Wednesday that China had installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three manmade outposts in the South China Sea. It cited sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence.

Asked about the report, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a regular news briefing: “We’re well aware of China’s militarization of the South China Sea. We’ve raised concerns directly with the Chinese about this and there will be near-term and long-term consequences.”

Sanders did not say what the consequences might be.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. intelligence had seen some signs that China had moved some weapons systems to its artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago in the past month or so, but offered no details.

CNBC quoted unnamed sources as saying that according to U.S. intelligence assessments, the missiles were moved to the Spratlys within the past 30 days to Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef and also Mischief Reef, which is 216 km (135 miles) from the Philippines, well within Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

They would be the first Chinese missile deployments in the Spratlys, where Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei have rival claims.

China’s defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Its foreign ministry said China has irrefutable sovereignty over the Spratlys and that necessary defensive deployments were for national security needs and not aimed at any country.

“Those who do not intend to be aggressive have no need to be worried or scared,” ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

‘UNIQUE RESPONSIBILITY’

Close U.S. ally the Philippines, which is now pursuing strong ties with its historic rival China, gave a cautious response on Friday to the reported deployment.

“With our recently developed close relationship and friendship with China, we are confident that those missiles are not directed at us,” said Harry Roque, spokesmen for President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Be that as it may, we would explore all diplomatic means to address this issue.”

Julie Bishop, the foreign minister of U.S. ally Australia, said the report, if accurate, would be a concern as the actions would be contrary to China’s stated aspiration not to militarize features it controls.

“China, of course, has a unique responsibility as a permanent member of the Security Council, to uphold peace and security around the world,” Bishop told reporters in Australia.

“Any action to militarize unilaterally features in the South China Sea would go against that responsibility and that role.”

CNBC said the YJ-12B anti-ship cruise missiles allowed China to strike vessels within 295 nautical miles. It said the HQ-9B long-range, surface-to-air missiles could target aircraft, drones and cruise missiles within 160 nautical miles.

Eric Sayers, a former consultant to the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, called the missile deployment “a major escalation” and said one immediate U.S. response could be to rescind Beijing’s invitation to this year’s RIMPAC multilateral naval exercises beginning in Hawaii in July.

“When China sees that it can get away with these types of actions with little cost - as they did all through 2015 and 2016 - it only makes it more likely they will keep pressing,” said Sayers, an adjunct fellow at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“China sees its participation in the exercise as a sign of its acceptance among the world’s maritime powers but Beijing should not be allowed to militarize this open maritime domain and still be honored as a welcomed member of the maritime community.”

Last month, U.S. Admiral Philip Davidson, nominated to head U.S. Pacific Command, said China could use its “forward operating bases” in the South China Sea to challenge the U.S. regional presence and “would easily overwhelm the military forces of any other South China Sea claimants.”

(Souce: Reuters)

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South China Sea: US says China's militarisation of islands an act of 'intimidation and coercion”

US Defence Secretary James Mattis has raised the prospect of additional American steps against China if its "militarisation" of the South China Sea keeps apace.

US President Donald Trump, backing the remarks by his Pentagon chief at an international security forum in Singapore, said on Twitter: "Very surprised that China would be doing this?"

Mr Mattis said the Trump administration's recent decision to disinvite China from a multinational naval exercise was an "initial response" to Beijing's island activity.

He called the US action a "relatively small consequence".

"I believe there are much larger consequences in the future," he said.

China's reliance on military muscle to achieve its goals "is not a way to make long-term collaboration the rule of the road in a region that's important to China's future," Mr Mattis said, when asked to elaborate.

"There are consequences that will continue to come home to roost, so to speak, with China, if they don't find a way to work more collaboratively with all of the nations who have interests," he said.

The bluster comes at a delicate time in US-China relations, as the Trump administration is warily asking for China's help with North Korea ahead of a June 12 summit, while also threatening a trade war.

 Mr Trump renewed his threat to hike tariffs on Chinese goods, just days before his commerce secretary arrived in Beijing on Saturday for trade talks.

Mr Mattis said there was little doubt about Beijing's intentions.

"Despite China's claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion," Mr Mattis said at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue.

Mr Mattis also touched on Taiwan, a longstanding dispute between the US and China.

(Souce: abc.net.au)

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Vietnam demands that China remove military jamming equipment from Spratly Islands

Vietnam’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that China has seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty by installing military jamming equipment on outposts in Truong Sa, Spratly Islands off the South China Sea, commonly known as the East Sea in Vietnam.

Le Thi Thu Hang told the press that the establishment of China's electronic warfare equipment to cause radio jamming on Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross on Truong Sa goes against international conventions and Vietnam requested the northern neighbor to remove the system.

She also told the press that China has repeatedly acted counter to international rules with its recent activities in the East Sea, including the underwater construction of You Lian Tuo 9 vessel and a sailboat race in waters off Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, which belong to Vietnam.

Such activities go against fundamental principles that Vietnam and China have agreed on, the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC), complicate the situation and do not benefit maintenance of peace, stability and cooperation in the sea.

Earlier on Tuesday, Vietnam’s agriculture ministry wrote to coastal cities and provinces, telling them to assure fishermen and asserting that a fishing ban issued by China last year “has no value.”

China’s Ministry of Agriculture in March last year released a ban on fishing in a number of areas from May 1 to August 16 this year, which include the Gulf of Tonkin near the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands in the East Sea.

Since then, Vietnam has condemned the ban, saying China’s move has seriously violated its maritime sovereignty over the Paracels.

Satellite imagery taken by commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe shows a suspected jammer system with its antenna extended on Mischief Reef in the South China Sea, Reuters cited the Wall Street Journal as saying.

(Souce: Vnexpress.net)

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The Dangerous Quest for a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea

By Huong Le Thu

 

The long and bumpy process of consultations on a code of conduct (COC) between China and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has gained some momentum since the July 2016 South China Sea arbitration award. China communicated its willingness to make some progress by adopting a framework for the COC last year. Officials from China and ASEAN met for the  23^rd meeting of the Joint Working Group on the implementation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in Vietnam in March and for the 15^th Senior Officials’ Meeting on the Implementation of the DOC in China in June. At both meetings they exchanged views on a potential COC.
These developments suggest that there is some progress, or at least growing political will, to finalize a COC, including debates on whether the agreement should be legally-binding and over including the interests of non-claimant states that make use of the South China Sea. But the COC process poses more challenges than hope for resolving the disputes. The COC has become a “holy grail,” highly desired but unattainable. A major concern should be that this holy grail could turn into a tool for China to legitimize its actions in the South China Sea by engaging in the process while subverting its spirit. To this end, the challenges to the COC process are likely to be:

1.      China will use the COC talks to delay, exploit, and divert focus from any ASEAN consensus on the South China Sea;

2.      China will seek to include unhelpful and imprecise language in the COC which it could then use to justify its actions;

3.      China will nonetheless claim the COC as a diplomatic success and will use it as cover to avoid criticism while still pursuing its unilateral strategy to control the South China Sea.

It has been over 25 years since ASEAN’s first official commitment, in 1992, to peacefully resolve the disputes in the South China Sea. Patience has been a necessary virtue for the region to work on any issues of contention, and it took another 10 years for the group to work out the non-binding DOC with China in 2002. For 16 years since then, the parties have been in pursuit of a COC that would help resolve the resource-draining and tension-generating disputes. But China has time on its side. That time has allowed China to successfully build its capabilities, especially by constructing artificial islands in the Spratlys in recent years. The lengthy and unproductive negotiations over the COC meanwhile have diverted regional attention away from the severity of Beijing’s disruptive actions around the South China Sea.
The long-stalled, unproductive negotiations have already had a detrimental effect on regional multilateralism. The South China Sea issue has exposed ASEAN’s institutional weaknesses, especially how its consensus-based decision-making leads to impasses. Just one member disagreeing with the content of a joint statement can silence the group’s voice. The most oft-cited example was Cambodia’s obstruction of the ASEAN joint communique in 2012 when it served as organization’s chair. Many have associated Phnom Penh’s lack of regional solidarity with its allegiance to and economic dependency on China.
Moreover, the South China Sea has become a “fatigued” theme which many ASEAN chairs have come to dread during regional meetings. Even this year’s chair Singapore, with its notoriously skilled diplomacy, prefers to focus on other issues, like counter-terrorism, cyber security, and smart cities, where it sees more room for cooperation, or at least less obstruction from pro-Beijing members of the grouping.
The longer the COC negotiations take, the more advantageous China’s position will become as it extends ever greater control over the resources of the South China Sea, for instance by sending its fishing fleet throughout the South China Sea and preventing other claimants from exploiting natural resources within their waters and seabed as it did recently when Vietnam attempted new oil and gas drilling. Even more conciliatory approaches like that of the current Philippine government seem unlikely to divert China from its strategy of gaining sole control over the South China Sea. Under President Rodrigo Duterte, Manila has opted for a strategy of embracing China. Not only did Duterte disregard the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling, effectively abandoning the legal victory and dealing a blow to the international rules-based-order — but he has chosen to pursue talks on joint development  of oil and gas resources with China (though no agreement seems forthcoming). Nonetheless, Beijing continues to build up military facilities, including on the Philippine continental shelf at Mischief Reef, and harass Filipino fishers and military planes and ships.
A successful COC would be a major victory for all involved. It would ward off diplomatic criticism of Beijing by the international community and show that China can act responsibly and in accordance with the international rules-based order. But a vague or ineffective agreement—which is a far more likely outcome—would serve only the interests of Beijing. With such a diplomatic success in hand, China could and likely would continue with its plans to unilaterally control the waters and airspace of the South China Sea.
If the COC process continues on its current trajectory, and China succeeds in filling the document with vague articles that would have little impact on its behavior, it would effectively be abusing the rules-based order to its own benefit. Instead of protecting against unilateral actions in the South China Sea, the rules-based order in the form of the COC could assist and justify China’s expansion and ultimately its sole control of the South China Sea. Other regional actors need to recognize these traps of concluding a counter-productive COC, and resist the urge to reach an agreement just to be able to say they made progress. Instead, they should insist on negotiating the terms and conditions of a real COC, one that would establish effective rules-based dispute management mechanisms, not one that would by-pass them for the sake of an easy “win.”

(Souce: amti.csis.org)

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The Secret Ingredient to China’s Aggression? Sand

By Vince Beiser

Mr. Beiser is the author of the forthcoming “The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization.”

One of the most dangerous confrontations between the United States and China is heating up. Warships are being deployed, bombers are taking wing and threats are being exchanged — all of it sparked by China’s growing mastery of the use of the world’s most overlooked natural resource: sand.

The point of contention is a set of man-made islands China has built in a strategic and hotly disputed patch of the South China Sea. It’s one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, and home to some 10 percent of the world’s fish. What’s more, billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas lie under the seafloor.

So it’s no surprise that virtually every country in the region — China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines — lays at least partial claim to a scattering of dozens of rocks and reefs called the Spratly Islands that sit strategically in that area.

But China has expanded its claims in the sea for decades, including some Spratly outcrops that it seized from Vietnam in a 1988 clash that left dozens of soldiers dead. And, particularly since 2014, it has used its industrial might to create facts in the water.

In recent years, China has built up an armada of oceangoing dredging ships, among the most technologically advanced in the world. The country’s annual dredging capacity — the volume of sand and muck it can haul up from underwater — has more than tripled since 2000, to more than one billion cubic meters. That’s more than any other nation. Starting in late 2013, Beijing set a fleet of these dredgers to work raising millions of tons of sand from the sea floor and using it to expand its pieces of territory in the Spratly Islands. Within 18 months, these ships built nearly 3,000 acres of new land.

This type of mega-scale land reclamation is increasingly common. In recent decades, advancing technology has made it easier and cheaper to move ever greater quantities of sand from ever greater depths and deliver it with ever greater accuracy onto predetermined places.

The biggest dredges today are more than 700 feet long; stood on end, they would top a 60-story apartment building. They carry pipes that can pull up sand from 500 feet below the water’s surface. Countries from Singapore to the Netherlands to the United Arab Emirates are using them to expand their coastlines and even build new islands from scratch.

China has done the same; in 2015 alone it created the equivalent of two Manhattans of new real estate. All told, according to a Dutch research group, human beings since 1985 have added 5,237 square miles of artificial land to the world’s coasts — an area about as big as Connecticut or the nation of Jamaica.

The process often entails enormous environmental damage. China recently suspended all commercial land reclamation projects because of the harm they were inflicting on coral reefs and coastal ecosystems. They have some experience with the issue; China dumped so much sand onto reefs in the Spratlys that one American marine biologist called it “the most rapid rate of permanent loss of coral reef area in human history.”

But of even greater concern is how China’s island building is serving its military ambitions. Almost as soon as the sand was dry on the Spratlys, China began building military bases. Beijing’s armed forces have installed antimissile weaponry, runways capable of handling military aircraft, structures that United States officials believe are designed to house long-range surface‑to‑air missile launchers, and port facilities that may be capable of accommodating nuclear submarines.

This expansion of China’s military power in the Pacific is an intensifying flash point between China, the United States, and its Pacific allies. At his confirmation hearings to become secretary of state, Rex Tillerson compared China’s Spratly buildup to Russia’s invasion of Crimea. In recent weeks, the United States has flown B-52s over, and sailed two warships past, the disputed archipelago.

For its part, China landed a long-range bomber on one of the newly made islands. In June, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis denounced China’s buildup as “intimidation and coercion.” President Xi Jinping responded that “we cannot lose even one inch of (our) territory.” All of which shows that in the 21st century, geopolitical power goes not only to those who control territory — but those who can manufacture it.

(Souce: nytimes.com)

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China makes scary breakthrough in the South China Sea

WHILE we were all distracted by the royal wedding at the weekend, the Chinese government was making ground in the South China Sea.

WHILE the Western world was focused on the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, China was making a breakthrough in the South China Sea.

On Friday night, the rising superpower’s state media uploaded a video of Chinese bombers conducting take-off and landing training on an island in the disputed region.
It marked the first time the bombers, including the H-6K, had landed in the area.
“A division of the People’s Liberation Army air force recently organised multiple bombers such as the H-6K to conduct take-off and landing training on islands and reefs in the South China Sea in order to improve our ability to ‘reach all territory, conduct strikes at any time and strike in all directions’,” the air force confirmed in a statement.
Wang Mingliang, a military expert, was quoted in the statement as saying that the take-off and landing exercises will help the air force improve its “real combat ability against all kinds of marine security threats’’.

Why does this matter? Because it shows China is getting increasingly bold about its pursuits in the disputed region. Until now, Beijing had denied militarising the artificial islands, saying military outposts were for defence purposes and nothing more.
But by openly stating that these weapons can “reach all territory” and “strike in all directions”, it appears the country is not afraid to be more transparent about its military activities.
The long-range H-6K bomber is capable of carrying out strategic and nuclear strikes, with a combat radius of nearly 3520 kilometres.

(China has deployed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island.Source:Supplied)

The Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, using Chinese social media posts, identified the location of the exercise as Woody Island, China’s largest base in the Paracel Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.
The move prompted immediate criticism from the US, with a Pentagon spokesman condemning China’s “continued militarisation of disputed features in the South China Sea”.
But China rejected concerns that the deployment had raised tensions in a region home to vital global shipping routes, saying there is “no need to over-interpret it”.
“The South China Sea islands are Chinese territories,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular briefing.
Mr Lu said moving the bombers into the area was “part of the normal training for the Chinese military”, and that the US “sending its own warships and planes to the region … poses a danger to other countries”.
Hanoi slammed the drills and demanded Beijing “immediately cease” its military moves in the area, the foreign ministry said in a statement to AFP on Monday.
The exercises “seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty … raising tensions (and) destabilising the region”, it said.
The Philippines also expressed “serious concerns” on Monday over the presence of the bombers in the area and said its foreign ministry has taken “appropriate diplomatic action”.
CHINA’S WARNING TO AUSTRALIA
Julie Bishop today raised objections to China’s militarisation of the artificial islands.
The Foreign Minister met with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi ahead of the G20 summit in Argentina.
“Australia’s position has been very clear and consistent and it is very well known to China,” Ms Bishop told ABC radio today. “Our concern about militarisation of disputed features of the South China Sea has been the subject of a number of discussions, and was again today.”
But she also trumpeted the meeting as “warm, candid and constructive”, saying she “gets along very well” with Mr Yi and that their meeting was positive.
Ms Bishop’s emphasis on the constructive relationship between the two countries echoed that of Steven Ciobo, who last week heaped praise on Beijing and described China as a “true global giant”.
“Speaking plainly, our partnership is benefiting both sides and making Australians and Chinese richer together,” he said.
“Australians are not making gains at the expense of Chinese, and Chinese are not making gains at the expense of Australians.”
But the tone from Beijing was less amicable.
Last week, Chinese communist party mouthpiece The Global Times said Australia-China relations were “among the worst of all Western nations”, referring to the ongoing controversy over our foreign interference laws.
“Misinterpretation of Sino-Australian ties has only made more troubles for Canberra, not Beijing,” the editorial warned. “The China-Australia relationship doesn’t carry much weight in Beijing diplomacy, and Chinese have no sense of urgency to improve ties with Canberra.
“But the situation is different for Australia. China has tremendous influence on Australia’s development.
“Canberra will certainly feel uneasy for upsetting ties with Beijing.”
— with AFP

(Souce: .news.com.au)

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