Update | China weighs in on possible air defence zone in South China Sea as key security dialogue ends
US, China tone down rhetoric after more hostile exchanges last year
China will make a decision on establishing an air defence identification zone around disputed waters in the South China Sea based on its assessment of the security situation, a senior Chinese military official said today.
Land reclamation work by China around disputed islands has led to speculation it will declare an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), which will require aircraft flying within the zone to identify themselves to Chinese authorities. The United States has expressed concern that China’s actions threaten the freedom of navigation and security in the Asia-Pacific.
Admiral Sun Jianguo, a deputy chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army, told the regional security forum Shangri-La Dialogue that China’s actions are peaceful and legitimate, calling on other countries to stop trying to “sow discord” over the matter.
“There is no reason for people to play up this issue in the South China Sea,” Sun said at the event in Singapore, adding that an ADIZ depended on any threats to air or maritime security.
He rebuffed US Defence Secretary Ash Carter's comments yesterday that China’s construction projects in the waters raised the risk of “miscalculation or conflict”, but refrained from answering several questions on the issue.
“China has carried out construction on some islands and reefs in the South China Sea mainly for the purpose of improving the functions of the relevant islands and reefs, and the working and living conditions of personnel stationed there," Sun said.
“Apart from meeting the necessary defence needs, it is more geared to better perform China’s international responsibilities and obligations regarding maritime search and rescue, disaster prevention and relief, maritime scientific research, meteorological observation, environmental protection, safety of navigation, fishery production, services,” he added.
China insists it has sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, a major global shipping route believed to be home to oil and gas reserves, but rival claimants accuse it of expansionism.
Carter had acknowledged that other claimants have developed outposts of differing scope and degree, including Vietnam with 48, the Philippines with eight, Malaysia with five and Taiwan with one.
“Yet, one country has gone much farther and much faster than any other," the US defence chief said.
“China has reclaimed over 2,000 acres, more than all other claimants combined and more than in the entire history of the region. And China did so in only the last 18 months,” Carter said.
The Chinese delegation of military and defence officials held 13 bilateral meetings with their foreign counterparts on the sidelines of the forum and many attendees said they had aired concerns to China about the South China Sea.
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“Since this is an international conference, I think China will return home having heard the honest opinions and views of various countries,” Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters.
“I think it should take firm steps from now on as a state in the international community, to gain the trust of various countries so that the region’s peace and stability won’t be broken”.
Tension over the South China Sea has ratcheted up in recent months after satellite images showed the scale of China’s reclamation.
Rhetoric at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s biggest security forum, was more measured than last year when the Chinese, Japanese and US delegations exchanged sharp words.
“This year it was more reserved and carefully calibrated,” said Tim Huxley, Asia director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies which organises the forum.
Sun refrained from singling out the United States for criticism and emphasised China’s commitment to peaceful relations.
“China has always kept in mind the larger interests of maritime security,” he said, reiterating that his country’s “indisputable” claims over the waters were based on legal and historical evidence.
“We hope relevant countries will work together in the same direction to build the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and co-operation”.
The Chinese military this month ordered a US Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft to leave an area above the heavily-disputed Spratly Islands. But the American plane ignored the demand.
Carter said Saturday that US planes and warships will continue patrolling what Washington considers international navigation zones in the South China Sea.
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Australia’s Defence Minister Kevin Andrews told The Wall Street Journal in an interview on the sidelines of the meeting that Canberra would also do the same. “We’ve been doing it for decades, we’re doing it currently ... and we’ll continue to do it into the future,” he said.
Police detained two others in a car that tried to crash through barricades around the venue before dawn. Police said it was unrelated to the conference.
The shooting happened metres from the hotel where dozens of defence leaders and military heads, including Carter, were staying although none were in any danger.
After the shooting, police officers initially told people attending the summit that the hotel was on complete lockdown, with no entry allowed. Roads and pathways leading up to the hotel, located in Singapore’s leafy diplomatic quarter, were shut off with barricade tape.
All three men were Singaporean and they weren’t carrying any weapons, although the two arrested were carrying substances believed to be drugs, the Singapore Police Force said.
But access to the venue was gradually eased and the conference proceeded normally until it ended at midday.
