Manila,
Philippines - China wants Asia-Pacific
countries to handle Asia-Pacific affairs and for various sides to work to
maintain and promote peace, stability and development in the region.
Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin called on the United States to respect
China’s interests and concerns in Asia-Pacific.
“We
welcome a constructive role played by the US in the Asia-Pacific, and we hope
it will respect interests and concerns of various sides, including China,” he
said.
“We
hope that the US will work with China and other countries in the Asia-Pacific
region to build together a region of greater stability and prosperity.”
US
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Asia-Pacific will continue to be
emphasized as one of the key strategic priorities of the US.
Liu
said US and Chinese leaders have reached a common understanding on developing a
relationship between emerging and established major countries featuring mutual
benefit and sound interactions.
“This
is an undertaking with no precedent to follow, yet under the new circumstances
in the 21st century, China and the US must blaze the trail of a new type of
relationship between major countries,” he said.
China
has expressed concern over US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks that
its claims in the South China Sea exceeded what the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has permitted.
Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei was reacting to Clinton’s remarks on
China’s sovereignty over the South China Sea when she testified before a Senate
Foreign Relations Committee hearing concerning the US accession into the
UNCLOS.
China
is negotiating with ASEAN countries to sign the Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the South China Sea and pursuing dispute settlement through
negotiations with countries directly concerned, he added.
China
had called for limiting the issue of dispute in the South China Sea within
claimant countries.
It
opposes any involvement and display of leadership role by a third party in the
South China Sea claims and dispute.
Hong
said the Philippine attempt to draw a third party into interfering or
intervening through whatever means in the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, also
called Bajo de Masinloc, incident will surely escalate the situation and meet
with firm opposition from the Chinese side.
The US
has been pushing for a multilateral resolution to the South China Sea claims.
China
and ASEAN claimant countries need to turn the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct
of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) into a legally binding code to prevent
clashes and to keep the vast region open to commerce, the US said.
Pia
Lee-Brago
The
Philippine Star
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