SOUTH CHINA SEA: The United States says it will raise the concern of tensions in the South China Sea in an annual diplomatic meeting in Malaysia while China insists that the issue must not be discussed.
China, the Philippines and four other countries have been having disputes over ownership and control of the South China Sea for decades.
Washington, which is not a party to the conflict and should not interfere due to a policy of not taking sides in the territorial row, has accused China of acting “out of step with both the international rules and norms” after Beijing began work to build artificial islands in the Spratly Islands.
“It should not be discussed,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said on the sidelines of the 48th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, which started in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
“This is not the right forum. This is a forum for promoting cooperation. If the US raises the issue we shall of course object. We hope they will not,” he added.
However, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Monday that Secretary of State John Kerry would bring up the issue in Malaysia.
“This is a forum in which critical security issues need to be brought up and discussed,” Toner told reporters.
Washington considers as “provocative” any Chinese move to “significantly increase the physical size or functionality of disputed features, or to militarize them,” he said.
On Thursday, China’s Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun accused the US of secret motives, saying that “the US side disregards and distorts the facts and plays up China’s military threat to sow discord between China and the littoral states in the South China Sea. We firmly oppose such actions.”
On the same day, Toner said in response that the US has played a “critical role” in keeping the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific since the end of World War II, highlighting Washington’s role in the region’s “remarkable growth.”
China accuses the United States of meddling in the regional issues and deliberately stirring up tensions in the South China Sea.
Credit: PressTV
