TENSIONS are set to escalate in the South China Sea as China seeks assurances the United States will not send warships to test its determination to lay claim to a string of remote, strategic islands.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said last night that the US needs to clarify its stance on proposed new patrols around the islands being used to establish a claim on key strategic oil and fish stocks.
China urged “the relevant country” to “refrain from taking risky and provocative actions to maintain the regional peace and stability”, Hua told reporters.
Huh, wonder why the PRC is so concerned about US military patrols in international waters if its own presence there is so peaceful and neighbourly, and not at all militaristic ? And since when did they even admit using the artificial islands to promote (utterly bogus) claims on oil and fish ?
BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday voiced "serious concern" toward a U.S. official's remarks on the Pentagon's plan to send military aircraft and ships to the South China Sea.
Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a routine press briefing that the U.S. side should clarify relevant remarks.
According to a Reuters report, a U.S. official said on Tuesday the Pentagon is considering sending U.S. military aircraft and ships to "assert freedom of navigation" around Chinese-made artificial islands in the South China Sea.
China has always advocated freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, Hua said. "But freedom of navigation does not give one country's military aircraft and ships free access to another country's territorial waters and airspace."Yep, he actually said that.
But hey, 固有之疆域, right ? Wonder what the world might look like if every country declared that any territory they had held at any point in history should be theirs until the end of time ? Like, gee I don't know, how about...Japan, say ?
The PRC would be totally cool with that, right ?
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