Premier Li Urges Countries to Respect global Law Regarding South China Sea

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business and Investment Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, November 21, 2015. “This is necessitated by China”™s national defense objective and to protect those islands and reefs.”.

A Chinese official has defended his country’s construction of military and civilian facilities on islands South China Sea whose ownership is hotly contested.

“China has engaged in a reclamation program that”™s dumped millions of tons of sand and coral onto islands and reefs where it claims sovereignty. Its actions have been focused on the Spratly islands within waters that carry about 30 percent of global trade. This has caused ripples of alarm in much of East Asia about China’s intentions and freedom of navigation in a waterway through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes annually.

Since 2013, China has accelerated the creation of new outposts by piling sand atop reefs and atolls, and then adding buildings, ports and airstrips big enough to handle bombers and fighter jets – activities seen as an attempt to change the territorial status quo by changing the geography.

Obama said this week that China should halt construction in the South China Sea, the NY Times reported.

China has declared ownership of virtually all of the South China Sea, conflicting with the various claims of Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei.

The maritime issue has become the stage for a big-power confrontation between China and the United States, which warns that Beijing’s actions could threaten freedom of navigation.

The Obama administration had previously called the move a means of stressing the right to free passage in waters claimed by China, but Liu called last month’s USS Larsen voyage “political provocation”.

During previous coordination efforts over the chairman’s statement for the summit, the United States and China fiercely faced off behind closed doors over the language that the statement should use regarding the South China Sea, according to negotiation sources. Philippine President Benigno Aquino and others agreed with Obama.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak opened the weekend series of meetings earlier on Saturday, calling on world leaders to confront Islamist extremism.

On top of that, numerous nations in dispute with China have conflicting claims to various islands. One of them controls 29, another one eight and the third country five.

Japan on Sunday backed the United States sailing warships close to disputed land in the South China Sea but said it had no plans to send its own maritime forces to support the operation.

He said China would also set aside USD10 billion (RM42.8 billion) for the second phase of the China-Asean special infrastructure loan to further support connectivity in the region.