MANILA, Philippines - With China’s massive
and nearly completed reclamation and infrastructure development activities in
the South China Sea, Beijing on Friday said the situation in the disputed
territory is “stable.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Hua Chunying downplayed a move by Japan to extend air patrols into
the South China Sea as a counterweight to a growing fleet of Chinese vessels.
Admiral Robert Thomas, Commander
of the Seventh Fleet of the US Navy, welcomed Japan’s move, saying that allies,
partners and friends in the region will see the Japanese more and more as a
stabilizing function, and that operations by Japan Maritime Self Defense Forces
in the South China Sea will make sense in the future.
“The situation in the South China
Sea is stable. China maintains good neighborly and friendly relations with
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries,” Hua said in a press
conference in Beijing.
The United States slammed China’s
problematic behavior and the “wholesale” reclamation Beijing has undertaken in
the South China Sea, saying it is the source of clear anxiety and instability
in the region.
Assistant Secretary of State for
East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel said in October that the US talked
to the Chinese about the importance of practical behavior, whether it has to do
with the movement of coast guard or military ships, or with the promulgation of
unilateral rules that purport to exercise authority over what is regarded by
others either as contested space or as international space.
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