China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is taking a hard line on the country’s claims to own virtually all the South China Sea, saying Beijing won’t permit other nations to infringe on what it considers its sovereign rights in the strategically vital area.
Mr. Wang, speaking to reporters at an annual news conference Tuesday in Beijing, said that another nation’s claim to freedom of navigation in the region doesn’t give it the right to do whatever it wants an apparent reference to the U.S., which has sent naval ships past reefs where China has engaged in island-building.
“China’s development defensive”
Mr. Wang sought to deflect allegations China is militarising the region by building military facilities on the artificial islands. He said China’s development there was defensive and that other nations were being militaristic, not China.
“We want to uphold the peace and freedom of navigation in the SCS,” Mr. Wang said, adding, “freedom of navigation does not imply doing whatever you want“.
"Time will reveal the real guest and host"
The SCS has seen “colonial invasion and illegal occupation. Now some people are making waves and some others showing force. However like the tide that comes and goes none of these things will make impact and history will determine who is the real guest and who is the host,” he said. China, he said, will not make further claims.
“China has never claimed and will not claim new territories,” he said. “Not China, but others should be accused of militarising the sea,” he said.
"Facilities for civilian use"
“Besides meeting basic defence needs, China is building more facilities for civilian use, with purposes of offering public services to the international community,” he said and promised to take the international media there after the facilities are completed. He also said China and the US can consider more maritime cooperation.
"China and the United States are two major countries, and there are both cooperation and friction between them. In the face of problems, our task is to resolve them. We want to expand and deepen cooperation and work hard to turn friction into cooperation,” he said.
"China is not the U.S."
“China is not the U.S., and China will not and cannot become another U.S. We have no intention of displacing or dominating anybody,” he said
