China irked at India's South China Sea stand

Beijing has conveyed to New Delhi its concern over India’s growing clamour on the South China Sea dispute, particularly in reference to the row in the joint statement issued after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe earlier this month.

China is understood to have conveyed its concerns to India through diplomatic channels, both in New Delhi and Beijing, making it clear that it would expect “the countries outside the region” to respect efforts being made by “the countries in the region” to maintain security and stability of South China Sea, rather than “provoking tension and confrontation”.

Modi and Abe on December 12 last urged all states to avoid unilateral actions that could lead to tensions in South China Sea–apparently a call to Beijing to refrain from building new islands and air-strips in the disputed waters and from efforts to curb freedom of navigation and over flight.

China, according to the diplomatic sources, conveyed to India that it always respected the freedom of navigation and over-flight for all states in the South China Sea in accordance with international laws and would continue to do so.

South China Sea has been at the centre of an escalating conflict between China and its maritime neighbours–Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines.

 China claims it was the first country to discover, name, explore and exploit the resources of the South China Sea Islands and the first to continuously exercise sovereign powers over them. Citing maps it published in 1935 and 1948, Beijing argues that it has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands–Dongsha Islands, Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Nansha Islands–and the adjacent waters.

A recent commentary on China’s state-run People’s Daily argued that South China Sea islands had been China's territory since ancient times and successive governments of China had exercised continuous jurisdiction over the islands “by means of administrative control, military patrol, production and business operations, and maritime disaster relief, among others”.

The article on People’s Daily accused Japan of illegally seizing Xisha and Nansha islands on South China Sea during its war of aggression against China in 1930s and 1940s. After the end of World War II and its victory, China sent warships and garrisoned troops to recover the Xisha and Nansha islands and built various military and civilian facilities on the islands, thus “resuming exercise of sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands de jure and de facto”, it added.

Vietnam recently opposed construction of schools and filling stations in one of the Paracel (Xisha in Chinese and Hoang Sa) islands, which have been at the centre of a bilateral dispute.

China has also been accused of embarking on large-scale land reclamation and construction works in Spratly (Nansha in Chinese) islands, violating Exclusive Economic Zones and Continental Shelf of Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

Beijing, however, claimed that construction undertaken by it in the reefs and islands of the South China was well within the sovereign rights of China.

China is understood to have conveyed to India that it seeks to peacefully resolve South China Sea disputes “through negotiation and consultation” with its maritime neighbours “on the basis of respecting historical facts and in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)”.
DH News Service