- TUE
- Apr 14, 2015
- Updated: 8:25pm
NEWS›ASIA›SOUTH EAST ASIA
SOUTH CHINA SEA
World should fear Beijing’s claims to South China Sea, says Philippine’s Aquino
China’s increasingly assertive actions raise the spectre of other nations having access cut to international shipping lanes and fishing grounds in the sea, Aquino says
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 14 April, 2015, 7:44pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 14 April, 2015, 7:52pm
Philippine President Benigno Aquino shows a copy of China's nine-dash line map during an interview at Malacanang Palace in Manila. Photo: AFP
China’s efforts to stake its claim to most of the South China Sea should spark fear around the world, with military conflict possible, Philippine President Benigno Aquino said.
In an interview with AFP, Aquino also warned that China’s increasingly assertive actions raised the spectre of other nations having access cut to international shipping lanes and fishing grounds in the sea.
”Does it engender fear? Yes, I think it should engender fear for the rest of the world,” Aquino said when asked to assess Chinese government moves in recent years to assert its sovereign claims in the sea.
The question of it escalating to something beyond everybody’s control should be at the top of the minds of all world leaders
Aquino said that, while he did not believe China intended to engage in a military conflict over the territorial disputes with the Philippines and other Asian nations, that was a possibility.
”The question of it escalating to something beyond everybody’s control should be at the top of the minds of all world leaders,” he said.
China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including areas just off the coasts of other Asian nations, using an assertive demarcation line that first appeared on Chinese maps in the 1940s.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims.
The contested claims have for decades made the sea one of Asia’s key flashpoints, and tensions have risen in recent years as China has moved to assert its authority over the areas.
Following a tense stand-off between Chinese maritime patrol vessels and the Filipino Navy in 2012, China took control of a rich fishing ground called Scarborough Shoal that is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
Satellite images have also shown China recently embarking on major construction activities to expand Chinese-controlled reefs and islets in the Spratly Islands, one of the biggest archipelagos in the sea.
China last week defended its construction work in the Spratlys, while insisting it has sovereign rights to most of the sea.
The images published this month on the website of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies showed a flotilla of Chinese vessels dredging sand onto a feature known as Mischief Reef.
Images of other outcrops in the Spratlys showed aircraft runways appearing from jungle, smooth-sided solid masses where there once was coral, and man-made harbours replacing natural reefs.
Aquino said China was building two airstrips on the expanded land formations, which posed defence concerns for the Philippines.
”With these new features, the two airstrips that come to my mind, once operational, puts into effective range the entire country,” Aquino said.
”The [Chinese] turnaround time, the sustainability of operations ... are enhanced by all of these airstrips, and potentially other naval ports.”
US President Barack Obama has criticised China’s use of “sheer size and muscle” to enforce its territorial claims.
The Philippines is a military ally of the United States. During a visit to Manila last year, Obama said America had an “iron-clad” commitment to defend the Philippines.
Daniel LeeApr 14th 2015
8:59pm
8:59pm
Aquino is still dumb enough to play from a script written for him by the US. His finger pointing and fear mongering will only do a big disservice to his own country. What's this disingenuous MF is trying to do is to only single out China while keeping quiet on his overlapping claims against Vietnam. Everybody can see through his fomenting of conflicts when in the first place the Philippines is illegally occupying China's territory like Vietnam. China is not like Japan or the US and will never invade the Philippines and made them into slaves. Why is Aquino trying to bully China except for the support and agitation from Japan and the US, the two countries that have colonised, massacred and enslaved the Filipinos. By asking for the return of his previous colonial masters, Aquino is betraying his people and should be impeached. When his mother kicked out their abusers and killers, Aquino the idiot son invites them back so the Pinoys gets raped and murdered again. Shame on Aquino. Aquino should also withdraw from the illegal occupied outposts and stop all construction. Instead of fomenting conflicts, Aquino should do more for his long suffering people who are frequently raped, murdered and abused by their employers in the Middle East. But Aquino the dirty rascal and American stooge stays sile while his people are slaughtered and enslaved. Shame on Aquino again. The Filipinos should spit on him. Recently he caused the deaths of dozen of Filipino police in a military adventure.
blue-ba@******Apr 14th 2015
8:53pm
8:53pm
The US has had many years of practice getting its sycopyantic "allies" to front its aggression. The Philippine devotion to the great power is obvious. It only harms itself by not even making an attempt to get along with China.
