Updated: 08:24,
Saturday July 21, 2012
Sky News, Australia
China has reasserted its sovereignty over disputed South China
Sea islands, hours after the Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) committed to exercise restraint following a diplomatic rift
within the 10-member bloc.
The key issue of the South China Sea
was disputes over sovereignty of 'the Nansha islands' - or Spratly
islands - and their nearby islands, said a statement on the Foreign
Ministry website.
'There are adequate historical and legal
explanations for China's sovereignty over the Nansha islands and nearby
sea,' a spokesman for the ministry, Hong Lei, was quoted in the
statement as saying.
China wished to 'comprehensively and
effectively follow the new code of conduct in the South China Sea
together with other ASEAN countries,' Hong said.
'In the context
of the continuous emergence of the current global financial crisis and
its deep influence, China and ASEAN share the same interest and
responsibility in maintaining regional peace and stability and keeping
Asia's development momentum.'
Earlier ASEAN foreign ministers said that member states had reaffirmed 'the non-use of force by parties' over the sea.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma.
The statement followed days of intense diplomacy by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
The
diplomat toured the region to build a consensus on the issue after
ASEAN failed to agree a joint position at the end of an annual
ministerial meeting held in Phnom Penh last week.
Beijing claims
nearly all of the South China Sea, which holds key shipping lanes and
is believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits.
ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei have vying claims to different areas, as does Taiwan.
Countries
have faced off over the issue for centuries, but the failure of ASEAN
last week to agree a joint closing statement for the first time in its
45-year history reinforced concerns the sea is fast becoming a global
flashpoint.
A signatory to the UN Convention on Law of the Sea,
China insisted that it was 'not an international treaty that settles
nations' sovereign territorial disputes, nor can it be used as a
reference for resolving such disputes'.
Malaysia and Brunei among
other countries rely on the convention to claim territory they say
falls within their economic exclusion zones as defined by the document.
A
fleet of 30 Chinese fishing vessels arrived at what China calls Zhubi
Reef in the Spratly Islands escorted by a navy patrol ship, state media
reported on Monday.
Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam also claim the reef.
The fleet was the largest ever to be launched from the province of Hainan, the Xinhua news agency reported.
China
at the end of last month announced an upgrade to the city of Sansha to
administer three hotly contested archipelagos: the Spratlys, Paracels
and Macclesfield Bank.
At the same time, Beijing also declared
nine oilfields in the South China Sea open for bids from foreign
investors in areas overlapping with fields claimed by Vietnam.
China
had 'an open attitude towards ASEAN countries' discussion of the South
China Sea code of conduct,' Hong was quoted as saying.
'China
wishes all parties to strictly obey the declaration and create the
necessary conditions and atmosphere for discussing the codes,' the
Foreign Ministry statement said.
4 comments:
Nice job china.
China is a land stealer. Evil thief commies
Are you it's not the Vietnamese.
Hey, Khmer dogs, Keep barking for your master, you are my dogs, louder, dogs
Master Chin
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