India’s trilateral naval exercise with Japan and the United States, named “Malabar”, should not destabilise China’s maritime neighbourhood, said China’s Ambassador to India Le Yucheng to The Hindu on Saturday.
“India should ensure that initiatives like the trilateral maritime arrangement or defence ties with other countries are conducive for peaceful and stable Asia-Pacific region,” Mr Le said on the sidelines of a media event in New Delhi on Saturday. Earlier, Mr. Le pointed out in his speech delivered at the event that the maritime boundary of China in the South China Sea was legitimate and flexing military muscles by other countries was not going to help maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dismissing concerns that China might obstruct free navigation in the South China Sea, taking advantage of its territorial and maritime claims, Mr. Le said China’s claims were historically accurate and, therefore, could not be disputed. In a spirited defence of Beijing’s rights over the South China Sea, the Ambassador said, “For a long time after World War II, no one challenged China’s sovereignty over these islands. But certain powers have begun questioning China’s territorial and maritime rights in the region after the discovery of energy fields in the South China Sea.”
“This is our common sea. China has always supported freedom of navigation and we are for creating a code of conduct to ensure smooth navigation in that region,” he said, asking external powers not to meddle in the issue.
Presenting the Indian argument, in response to Mr. Le, Ram Madhav, general secretary of the BJP, said China had to take “utmost care” in ensuring freedom of navigation and peace and stability in the South China Sea region. “We have a few unresolved issues in the Asia-Pacific region. Freedom of navigation is necessary for Japan and South Korea that import most of their energy over the oceans of the Indo-Pacific region,” Mr. Madhav said, while indicating that he supported some fresh policy changes in dealing with China’s claims in the Southeast Asian region. “India will use culture, historic ties with the Indian diaspora to convert Asia-Pacific region into an Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
