China expressed an unwavering resolve to
protect its national sovereignty and to deal with disputes peacefully, Defense
Minister Liang Guanglie said on Tuesday.
Liang
made those remarks at a short consultative meeting with defense ministers from
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia,
following talks on Monday with his Philippine counterpart, Voltaire Gazmin.
The two
meetings came amid an impasse over Huangyan Island in the South China Sea. The
dispute was prompted by a Philippine warship's harassment of Chinese fishermen
in waters off the island on April 10.
Liang
called for cooperation, mutual benefit, equality and mutual respect at the
meeting, which mainly concerned regional security and strengthening mutual
trust and cooperation.
"China
will never slough off its responsibility to ensure regional peace and
stability, never change its choice of pursuing peace and development, never
slacken its efforts to promote regional cooperation, never give up its sincere
pursuit of peaceful resolutions to disputes and never waver from its
determination to guard its national sovereignty," Liang told his
counterparts from ASEAN countries.
On
Wednesday, Beijing once again demanded that Philippine vessels leave waters
near Huangyan Island.
"China's
stance on guarding its territorial sovereignty is unwavering," Liu Weimin,
Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a daily news conference.
Liu
also confirmed that the two countries are communicating regularly.
Yang
Baoyun, a professor of Southeast Asia studies at Peking University, said
Liang's remarks conveyed more than the Chinese armed forces' stance on the
Huangyan Island impasse.
"Although
the Philippines cannot afford to enter into a large conflict over Huangyan
Island, its rival claim over the island won't be withdrawn overnight,"
Yang said. "And it still wants to bargain with China and involve more
third parties."
Liang,
during his meeting on Monday with Gazmin, which was held on the sidelines of
the defense ministers' meeting of Southeast Asian countries, urged the
Philippines to show "discretion in both words and deeds" over the
island impasse and to make real steps toward the establishment of regional
peace and stability.
It was
the first face-to-face talk the two defense chiefs had held since the most
recent dispute over Huangyan Island broke out about two months ago. The island
has been part of China's indisputable territory since ancient times.
Manila,
following the incident, has attempted to enlist support for its position from
third parties such as the United States and United Nations. Those actions have
been firmly opposed by China and other countries.
The
Philippines says it has a territorial claim to Huangyan because the island lies
within its so-called 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. It has vowed to
take its contentions about the island to international tribunals, a move China
believes is meant to foment a territorial dispute and make the situation more
complicated.
"Bringing
disputes about another country's indisputable territory to international
tribunals violates the ground rules of contemporary international
relations," Deng Zhonghua, director of the department of boundary and
ocean affairs with the Foreign Ministry, said earlier this month.
Philippine
Vice President Jejomar C. Binay said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak
supports the Philippine position that a resolution of the island dispute with
China should be based on the UN Convention on Law of the Sea, the Manila
Bulletin reported on Tuesday.
Binay
met with the Malaysian Prime Minister at the Prime Minister's office, according
to a statement from the Office of the Vice President, it said.
Zhang
Yunbi
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