President Barack Obama. AP FILE PHOTO
KINGSTON, Jamaica—US President Barack Obama said Washington is concerned China is using its “sheer size and muscle” to push around smaller nations in the South China Sea, just hours after Beijing gave a detailed defense of its creation of artificial islands in the contested waterway.
China’s rapid reclamation around seven reefs in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea has alarmed other claimants, such as the Philippines and Vietnam, and drawn growing criticism from US government officials and the military.
While the new islands will not overturn US military superiority in the region, workers are building ports and fuel storage depots and possibly two airstrips that experts have said would allow Beijing to project power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.
“Where we get concerned with China is where it is not necessarily abiding by international norms and rules, and is using its sheer size and muscle to force countries into subordinate positions,” Obama told a town-hall event in Jamaica on Thursday ahead of a Caribbean summit in Panama.
“We think this can be solved diplomatically, but just because the Philippines or Vietnam are not as large as China doesn’t mean that they can just be elbowed aside,” he said.
The United States has no claim of its own, but broadly supports its Asian allies against Chinese pressure and has asserted that freedom of navigation is in its national interest.
China rejoinder
Beijing immediately rejected Obama’s comments, saying it only seeks peace in the South China Sea.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Friday that China advocated talks to resolve tensions between rival claimants to the strategic waters and island groups.
“I think you will agree with me that China has been a robust force for the preservation and promotion of peace and stability in the South China Sea,” she said.
In an apparent reference to the United States, Hua said: “I think everybody can clearly see who has the biggest size and muscle in the world.”
READ: China says it’s a robust force for peace in South China Sea
‘Facts in the water’
A newly released set of satellite images has revealed that China is artificially expanding a reef in disputed waters, presumably to strengthen its territorial claims.
Satellite images on the website of the Center for Strategic and International Studies show a flotilla of Chinese vessels dredging sand onto Panganiban Reef (Mischief Reef), a large outcrop in the Spratlys that is claimed by the Philippines.
Images of other outcrops in the Spratly chain show aircraft runways appearing from jungle, smooth-sided solid masses where there once was coral and man-made harbors replacing natural reefs.
Analysts say the pictures show how China is attempting to create “facts in the water” to bolster its territorial claim.
China claims most of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims. Beijing asserts sovereignty over most of the region, including areas close to the coasts of other states, using the so-called nine-dash line that first appeared on Chinese maps in the 1940s.
Western and Asian naval officials privately say China could feel emboldened to try to limit air and sea navigation once the reclaimed islands are fully established.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) does not legally allow for reclaimed land to be used to demarcate 12-nautical-mile territorial zones, but some officials fear China will not feel limited by that document and will seek to keep foreign navies from passing close by.
Reclamation defended
China, which has asked Washington not to take sides in the row, says it is willing to discuss the issue with individual countries directly involved in the dispute.
However, it has refused to participate in an international arbitration case filed by the Philippines in The Hague over the contested waterway.
Artificial islands
In a rare move for China, Hua on Thursday sketched out China’s plans for its artificial islands in the Spratlys, saying they would be used for military defense as well as to provide civilian services that would benefit other countries.
She said the reclamation and building work was needed partly because of the risk of typhoons in an area with a lot of shipping that is far from land.
“We are building shelters, aids for navigation, search and rescue as well as marine meteorological forecasting services, fishery services and other administrative services” for China and neighboring countries, Hua said.
Hua also reiterated China’s stance that its sovereignty claim over the entire area gives it the right to carry out whatever work it deems worthy, but that such activities are not directed at any third parties.
All claimants, save for Brunei, have fortified bases in the Spratlys, which lie roughly 1,300 kilometers from the Chinese mainland but much closer to the Southeast Asian claimants. Reports from AP and AFP
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