China rules out force in sea dispute, rebukes US senator

BEIJING—China on Tuesday ruled out the use of force in the tense South China Sea after its neighbors expressed concern about its more assertive maritime posture.

“We will not resort to the use of force or the threat of force,” Hong Lei, the foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters. “We hope relevant countries will do more for peace and stability in the region.”

In the news conference, China also criticized US Sen. Jim Webb’s call for a tougher US stance and appeal for multilateral negotiations to resolve festering territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Army commentary

Hong said only those countries with territorial claims in the vast resource-rich waters should get involved in such discussions.

Also on Tuesday, China’s main military newspaper said Beijing vehemently opposed external powers meddling in territorial disputes over the South China Sea after Vietnam asked for international help to defuse tensions over the potentially resource-rich region.

The warning in the Liberation Army Daily coincided with exercises conducted by Vietnam’s military along its central coast, and follows a weekend statement by Hanoi welcoming efforts by the international community, including the United States, to help resolve the disputes.

China and Vietnam have hurled accusations at each other for weeks over what each country sees as intrusions into its territorial waters by the other in a swath of ocean crossed by key shipping lanes and believed to hold large deposits of oil and gas.

Such accusations have flared up between China, Vietnam and the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, which are also involved in longstanding maritime disputes in the South China Sea, but the present bout of tension has run longer than usual.

Unrelated countries

The commentary in the Liberation Army Daily repeated Beijing’s warning that other “unrelated” countries should back off, adding China’s military’s might to that message.

“This dispute must be resolved peacefully through friendly consultations between the two parties involved,” the paper said.

“Therefore, China resolutely opposes any country unrelated to the South China Sea issue meddling in disputes, and it opposes the internationalization of the South China Sea issue,” it added.

Tensions between China and the United States intensified last year after the Obama administration became embroiled in the South China Sea dispute, stressing Washington’s support for a collective solution.

Beijing insists on handling the disputes over the region on a one-on-one basis rather than multilaterally, a strategy some critics have described as “divide and conquer.”

The Liberation Army Daily is under the control of China’s ruling Communist Party and its Central Military Commission, and although commentaries in the paper do not amount to government policy, they are carefully vetted to reflect official thinking.

Call to arms?

As the current chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), Vietnam last year sought to internationalize the South China Sea disputes and succeeded in putting it on the agenda at a regional security forum—much to China’s displeasure

The Liberation Army Daily commentary accused Vietnam of stirring up tensions by conducting the exercises in part of the exclusive economic zone it claims in the sea.

“These actions to exaggerate and exacerbate conflict will not help solve the South China Sea problems,” the paper said.

“The country concerned should stop its unilateral actions to expand and make more complicated the South China Sea dispute, and no longer make untruthful and irresponsible statements,” it added.

Military draft

Vietnam’s military newspaper, in turn, accused China at the weekend of creating disputes “through provocative actions (and) hostilities aimed at its neighbors.”

Vietnam’s prime minister also issued a decree outlining the terms of a possible military draft, a move experts said was a signal from the communist authorities that the country it was prepared to defend its interests.

“Vietnam is speaking to two audiences. It’s speaking to a domestic audience where it is under pressure to be shown to be taking steps to deal with China. The other is to China,” said Carlyle Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Reuters