Beijing yesterday slammed Manila's attempt to
"rename" Huangyan Island as China is set to launch its first
deepwater oil rig in the South China Sea.
Manila
declared on Thursday that it would "rename" Huangyan Island as
Panatag Shoal, and is considering removing signs on the island related to
China.
Manila
also planned to involve other countries and organisations in the dispute by
raising the issue before international tribunals.
The
Foreign Ministry warned on Monday that Manila's actions targeting Huangyan
Island are "illegal and invalid", and will not change the fact that
the island belongs to China.
"We
strongly urge the Philippines to return to diplomacy," and any remark or
move that complicates or intensifies the situation is nonsensical, Ministry
spokesman Hong Lei said at a news conference in Beijing.
Beijing's
stance in resolving the situation through diplomacy is "unchanged",
Hong added.
Huangyan
Island has been an integral part of China's territory for centuries.
The
Philippines did not challenge China's sovereignty over the island until 1997.
Manila's
latest actions over Huangyan Island have incited a nationalist fervor among the
Philippine public, Yang Baoyun, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at
Peking University warned.
A
Philippine warship entered the island's territorial waters on April 10, and
dispatched personnel to harass Chinese fishing boats and attempted to detain
Chinese fishermen.
The
move infringed sovereignty. Two Chinese patrol ships in the area came to the
fishermen's rescue, and the warship left.
But the
impasse continues as Philippine vessels were reported still to be in China's
territorial waters on Monday.
In-depth oil drills
Meanwhile,
China's first home-made deepwater rig will formally start operations on
Wednesday in the South China Sea.
The
move is widely expected to pave the way for mutually beneficial cooperation
with neighbouring countries.
China
National Offshore Oil Corp, owner and operator of the platform, said on Monday
that deep-sea equipment, capable of operating at depths of 3,000 metres, will
drill the first well 320 kilometres southeast of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region.
It
demonstrates China's technological capacity to explore and develop oil and gas
resources in the South China Sea, said Zhou Shouwei, an academic at the Chinese
Academy of Sciences.
Tian
Ling, a member of the French National Council for Diversity, agreed that
Hollande will seek to foster smooth trade and investment relations with China.
"He
is unlikely to clash with China on ideological issues but rather he will be
pragmatic as he is a smart politician. However, it will take time for Hollande
and his team to get to know more about China and Chinese policymakers, so there
is still a question mark around his policies," Tian said.
Hollande
did not fully elaborate his policies during the campaign, Zhang Jinling, a
researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
Former
Chinese ambassador to France Cai Fangbo told Chinese media that the partnership
between the two countries would continue moving forward, but the Taiwan and
Tibet questions remained red lines for China.
Sarkozy
was the first French president since Valery Giscard d'Estaing in 1981 not to be
re-elected and the 11th eurozone leader to be ousted from office since the
beginning of the sovereign debt crisis.
US
President Barack Obama on Sunday congratulated Hollande.
European
leaders also scrambled to congratulate Hollande. German Chancellor Angela
Merkel extended an invitation to him in a phone call on Sunday night to visit
Berlin. - AFP and Tan Xuan in Brussels contributed to this story
Zhang
Yunbi and Zhou Yan
China
Daily
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
Dear
Reader,
May I
invite you to visit our new blog: IIMS-Asean http://iims-asean.blogspot.com/
News
and activities of the International Institute of Medicine and Science Asean
Chapter of IIMS, Inc. California, USA - Health care, Life Science, Education,
Research, Philanthropy. Asean is the economic organisation of ten countries
located in South East Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. IIMS is a
non-profit organization.
No comments:
Post a Comment