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Beijing must use its sea power in a “peaceful manner”, Japan said on Thursday, after President Hu Jintao staked a claim for China to become a maritime force.
“It is not surprising to hear leaders in [China] speak about their intention to engage in maritime activities,” a Japanese foreign ministry spokeswoman said. “But those activities must be carried out in a peaceful manner based on international law.”
Hours after Hu told the Communist Party congress that Beijing should “resolutely safeguard China’s maritime rights and interests, and build China into a maritime power”, Naoko Saiki, deputy press secretary at the foreign ministry, said it needed to be “responsible”.
“Both Japan and China are equally responsible for the maintenance and enhancement of peace, stability and prosperity in the region, including maritime order,” she said.
“I think China must be a responsible member of the international community.”
Beijing and Tokyo are at loggerheads over the sovereignty of an uninhabited island chain in the East China Sea.
Chinese government ships have loitered around the Tokyo-administered Senkaku islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus, for weeks sending diplomatic temperatures soaring between Asia’s two largest economies.
The islands lie in rich fishing grounds and their possession theoretically grants access to a potential energy reserve in the sea bed.
But they also have strategic significance, with some observers suggesting they could provide a beachhead for Chinese projections of military might.
Japan has watched warily over the last decade as China’s military prestige has grown, but commentators say Tokyo’s own formidable armed forces are not to be underestimated, despite the nation’s officially pacifist stance.
“All countries, including the PRC [People’s Republic of China], have rights and responsibilities to protect their respective territorial lands or territorial seas and to ensure the safety of their respective people, in accordance with international law,” Saiki told reporters in Tokyo.
“The rule of law... is the basic principle to be respected by any and every country in the international community.”
Hu was speaking to the five-yearly congress, which this year will anoint a new slate of party and national leaders, who will govern China for the next decade.


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China’s volatile Japan ties

Chinese and Japanese coastguard ships in fresh confrontation near disputed Diaoyu Islands

China, US hold ‘candid’ maritime security talks amid Japan, South China Sea tensions

Diaoyu Islands

Japan responds to Hu’s remark to ‘safeguard China’s maritime rights’

Television sets at a store in Wuhan, Hubei province, shows President Hu Jintao. Photo: EPA

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China

Hu Jintao