China says Japan trying to ‘confuse’ South China Sea situation

The statement comes after Japan said it would step up activity in the contested waters, through joint training patrols with the United States.

“Let’s have a look at the results of Japan’s throwing things into disorder over this same time period… trying to confuse the South China Sea situation under the pretense of [acting for] the global community”, Lu stated during a briefing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on 19 September: “Let’s have a look at the results of Japan’s throwing things into disorder over this same time period. trying to confuse the South China Sea situation under the pretence of [acting for] the worldwide community”.

The dual-track approach entails disputes to be resolved peacefully through negotiation between directly concerned parties, on the one hand.

Japan is a key U.S. ally, and is boosting defence ties with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations that have their own territorial disputes with Beijing over the South China Sea.

Consensus on the South China Sea was reached at both the China-ASEAN leaders’ meeting early this month and the China-ASEAN foreign minsters’ meeting in July, according to Lu.

China claims most of the energy-rich waters, which also host roughly $5tn in ship-borne trade annually.

The Beijing Government is claiming large areas of the South China Sea, carrying numerous territorial disputes with Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. China should resolutely begin military deployment on its expanded Nansha Islands to balance the situation, and should notify ASEAN countries beforehand to allow global society to know the cause of the increased tension.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed China’s decision to reject the SCS tribunal verdict which the USA and Japan said is legally binding.

It is “better to continually engage China in a diplomatic dialogue rather than anger officials there”, he told reporters late August.

Ties between Asia’s two largest economies have always been overshadowed by arguments over their painful wartime history and a territorial spat in the East China Sea, among other issues.

China asserts sovereignty over nearly all of the strategically vital waters in the face of rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbors.

“China and ASEAN nations have the full wisdom and ability to manage the South China Sea issue”, Li said.