{"id":9372,"date":"2011-06-21T02:06:23","date_gmt":"2011-06-21T02:06:23","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-06-21T02:06:23","modified_gmt":"2011-06-21T02:06:23","slug":"China-defends-claims-in-South-China-Sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=9372","title":{"rendered":"China defends claims in South China Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>China<\/strong> said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.asiancemagazine.com\/news\/2011\/06\/14\/manila-renames-south-china-sea-as-west-philippine-sea\">today its territorial claims<\/a> in the South China Sea did not interfere with other countries&#8217; right to travel in the disputed waters and pledged to resolve the latest spat peacefully.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions between <strong>China and other rival claimants to the strategically vital waters<\/strong> &#8211; home to two potentially oil-rich archipelagos, the Paracels and Spratlys &#8211; have escalated in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Philippines and Vietnam in particular have expressed alarm at what they say are increasingly aggressive actions by China in the disputed waters<\/strong>, but Beijing reiterated its commitment to resolve the issue peacefully.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;China&#8217;s maintenance of sovereignty in the South China Sea and rising interest will never influence the freedom of navigation of other countries in the South China Sea,&#8221; foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There has never been a problem with freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>China was a &#8220;constructive force in the maintenance of peace and stability in the South China Sea,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hong&#8217;s comments came after Singapore yeesterday urged China to be more open about the extent of its territorial claims<\/strong>, saying Beijing&#8217;s ambiguity was causing international concern.<\/p>\n<p>Singapore&#8217;s foreign ministry said that while the city-state had no claims of its own, <strong>it was a major trading nation whose interests could be affected by issues relating to freedom of navigation in the area<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>US Senator John McCain, meanwhile, called for Washington to expand military and political support to Southeast Asian nations to stand up to China<\/strong> in the increasingly volatile waters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>McCain said Monday he welcomed the Obama administration&#8217;s defense of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea<\/strong> but said it should go further.<\/p>\n<p>He said it should let &#8220;other countries know, where possible, which claims the United States accepts, which ones we do not, and what actions we are prepared to support,&#8221; <strong>especially in defense of the Philippines, a treaty ally<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Source &#8211; AFP<\/em><br \/>\n<!--break--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China said today its territorial claims in the South China Sea did not interfere with other countries&#8217; right to travel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x90.jpg","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"Admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53e6cdc30765aade0129f85e5aeb50124b1d3f5bb9a70373be31e4eb328371e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"China said today its territorial claims in the South China Sea did not interfere with other countries&#8217; 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