Tag Archives: South China Sea

U.S. says China fighter made ‘unsafe’ intercept of spy plane

A China's J-10 fighter jet from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team performs during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand,

By Idrees Ali and Ben Blanchard

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese fighter jet carried out an “unsafe” intercept of a U.S. spy plane on routine patrol on Tuesday in international airspace over the East China Sea, the U.S. Pacific Command said, as China again demanded an end to U.S. surveillance flights.

The intercept involved two Chinese J-10 fighter planes and a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane, U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement.

“One of the intercepting Chinese jets had an unsafe excessive rate of closure on the RC-135 aircraft. Initial assessment is that this seems to be a case of improper airmanship, as no other provocative or unsafe maneuvers occurred,” Pacific Command said. It did not say how close the Chinese fighter came to the U.S. plane.

“The Department of Defense is addressing the issue with China in appropriate diplomatic and military channels,” the statement said.

China’s Defense Ministry said it had noted the report and was looking into it.

“Judging by the report, the U.S. side is again deliberately hyping up the issue of the close surveillance of China by U.S. military aircraft,” it told Reuters in a statement.

“Chinese military pilots consistently carry out operations in accordance with the law and the rules, and are professional and responsible,” it added, without elaborating.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said such patrols seriously harmed China’s security, and repeated a demand they stop.

“China has the right to take defensive measures,” he told a daily news briefing, without identifying the site of the intercept.

Asked if the incident had been timed to coincide with high-level China-U.S. talks in Beijing, attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Hong responded, “Ask the Americans.”

In May, the Pentagon said two Chinese fighter jets flew within 50 feet (15 meters) of a U.S. EP-3 aircraft over the South China Sea.

The Pentagon determined that the May incident violated an agreement the two governments signed last year.

Earlier this week, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a “provocative and destabilizing act.”

U.S. officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.

China has claimed most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.

Washington has accused Beijing of militarizing the South China Sea after creating artificial islands. Beijing, in turn, has criticized increased U.S. naval patrols and exercises in Asia.

At a conference in Singapore last week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the U.S. approach to the Asia-Pacific remained “one of commitment, strength and inclusion,” but he warned China against provocative behavior in the South China Sea.

(Editing by David Gregorio and Clarence Fernandez)

China tells U.S. to play constructive role over South China Sea

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative file image of an octagonal tower with a conical feature at its top, located on the northeast

By Yeganeh Torbati and Michael Martina

BEIJING (Reuters) – China told the United States on Tuesday that it should play a constructive role in safeguarding peace in the disputed South China Sea, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for talks and a peaceful resolution.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with the United States.

China has been angered by what it views as provocative U.S. military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea. The United States says the patrols are to protect freedom of navigation.

Speaking at the end of high-level Sino-U.S. talks in Beijing, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat who outranks the foreign minister, said China had the right to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.

“China respects and protects the right that all countries enjoy under international law to freedom of navigation and overflight,” Yang told reporters.

Disputes should be resolved by the parties involved through consultation, he said.

“China hopes the U.S. will scrupulously abide by its promise to not take sides in relevant territorial disputes and play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea,” Yang said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Saturday the U.S. approach to the Asia-Pacific remained “one of commitment, strength and inclusion”, but he also warned China against provocative behaviour in the South China Sea.

Kerry said the United States did not take a position on the sovereignty of any land features in the South China Sea but thought all claimants should exercise restraint.

“We reiterated America’s fundamental support for negotiations and a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law as well as our concern about any unilateral steps by any party … to alter the status quo,” Kerry said.

Kerry added that he and Yang reaffirmed their governments’ commitment to upholding the freedom of navigation and overflight.

The Philippines is hoping for a favourable ruling from a tribunal in The Hague this month after it went to court in 2013 seeking clarification on its economic entitlements in the South China Sea.

China has said it will not respect the court’s decision and there are fears in Manila that China may retaliate by declaring an air defence identification zone in the disputed waters or by reclaiming disputed Scarborough Shoal.

Gregory Poling, director of Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China would not risk an escalation if it knew the United States would try to deter its actions on Scarborough Shoal.

“What we’ve seen over and over in the last years, China is unwilling to risk activities that threaten deadly force,” Poling told diplomats and military officials at the main army base in Manila.

“It is possible to deter them. We’ll have to keep deterring them over and over. That is the test for next 10 to 15 years in this game of whack-a-mole until the Chinese decide that this is not the way to do international relations.”

(Additional reporting by Manuel Mogato in Manila; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie)

China slams Philippines definition of South China Sea ‘reef’

Still image from a United States Navy video purportedly shows Chinese dredging vessels in the waters around Fiery Cross

BEIJING (Reuters) – As Asia’s biggest security summit is set to convene, China on Friday accused the Philippines of seeking to negate its sovereignty in the South China Sea by describing Taiping Island as a reef and not an island in Manila’s territorial court case.

Tensions in the South China Sea are set to dominate the Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) starting Friday, exposing a deepening rivalry between the United States and China ahead of a landmark legal ruling over the disputed area in the Hague.

Beijing refuses to recognize the case lodged by the Philippines with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague over territorial claims in the South China Sea and says such disputes should be resolved through bilateral talks.

Manila is challenging the legality of China’s claim there, in part by arguing that no land mass in the Spratly archipelago, including Itu Aba, known as Taiping Island in Chinese, can legally be considered a life-sustaining island.

That would mean it cannot hold rights to a 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone.

“The Philippines’ attempt to define Taiping Island as a ‘reef’ exposes that the goal of its arbitration case is to try to negate China’s sovereignty and related rights over the Spratly Islands,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

“This is a violation of international law and completely unacceptable,” Hua said in a statement posted to the ministry’s website.

Chinese fishermen had historically lived on Itu Aba year-round, and fished, dug wells, cultivated plants and constructed buildings, all evidence that it was an island capable of sustaining human life and economic activity, Hua said.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion worth of ship-borne goods passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to the waters.

Self-ruled Taiwan controls Itu Aba, which some analysts believe has the strongest claim to island status and an economic zone. Late last year it finished a $100 million port upgrade on Itu Aba, which has an airstrip, a hospital and fresh water.

China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, has appeared unruffled by Taiwan’s upgrading work on Itu Aba. Military strategists say that is because it could fall into China’s hands should it ever take over Taiwan.

Taiwan in May called on the international court not to make a ruling on the legal status of Itu Aba in the South China Sea case if the judges don’t visit first to see for themselves it can sustain life.

(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Michael Perry)

China to ‘pressure’ U.S. on maritime issues

The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer transits the East Sea during Exercise Ssang Yong

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will “pressure” the United States on maritime issues at talks in Beijing next week because of Chinese concern about an increased U.S. military presence in the disputed South China Sea, a major state-run newspaper said on Tuesday.

China has been angered by what it views as provocative U.S. military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea. The United States says the patrols are to protect freedom of navigation.

“Beijing will pressure Washington over maritime issues during the upcoming Strategic and Economic Dialogue, as the United States’ increasing military presence in the South China Sea is among China’s major concerns,” the official China Daily said, citing unidentified officials.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.

This month, Beijing demanded an end to U.S. surveillance near China after two Chinese fighter jets carried out what the Pentagon said was an “unsafe” intercept of a U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea.

The South China Sea is also likely to feature at a June 3-5 security forum in Singapore known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

China’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that Admiral Sun Jianguo, a deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, would lead China’s delegation at the Singapore talks.

At the Beijing talks with the United States, which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend, other issues will also be on the table.

China will bring up the issue of self-ruled Taiwan – claimed by Beijing but which elected a pro-independence party to power in January – as well as the situation on the Korean peninsula, the China Daily added.

“The two countries have differing pursuits on major issues at the strategic level. However, the two still have many common interests,” the paper said.

“Whether it is on the South China Sea issue or on the Korean Peninsula issue, the two countries have a shared security goal to maintain regional stability,” it added.

The newspaper did not elaborate.

China is reclusive North Korea’s only major ally but has been angered by Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests and signed up to tough U.N. sanctions against it in March.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel)

G7 agrees, need strong message on South China Sea

Participants of the G7 summit meetings (from front in clockwise) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French President Francois Hollande, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk, Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama attend session 1 working lunch meeting at the Shima Kanko Hotel in Shima, Mie Prefecture, Japan

By Matt Spetalnick and Tetsushi Kajimoto

ISE-SHIMA, Japan (Reuters) – Group of Seven (G7) leaders agreed on Thursday on the need to send a strong message on maritime claims in the western Pacific, where an increasingly assertive China is locked in territorial disputes with Japan and several Southeast Asian nations.

The agreement prompted a sharp rejoinder from China, which is not in the G7 club but whose rise as a power has put it at the heart of some discussions at the advanced nations’ summit in Ise-Shima, central Japan.

“Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe led discussion on the current situation in the South China Sea and East China Sea. Other G7 leaders said it is necessary for G7 to issue a clear signal,” Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko told reporters after a session on foreign policy affairs.

At a news conference late on Wednesday, Abe said Japan welcomed China’s peaceful rise while repeating Tokyo’s opposition to acts that try to change the status quo by force and urging respect of the rule of law – principles expected to be mentioned in a statement after the summit.

The United States is also increasingly concerned about China’s action in the region.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying retorted in Beijing that the South China Sea issue had “nothing to do” with the G7 or any of its members.

“China is resolutely opposed to individual countries hyping up the South China Sea for personal gain,” she said.

U.S. President Barack Obama called on China on Wednesday to resolve maritime disputes peacefully and he reiterated that the United States was simply concerned about freedom of navigation and overflight in the region.

Obama on Thursday pointed to the risks from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, saying the isolated state was “hell bent” on getting atomic weapons.

But he said there had been improved responses from countries in the region like China that could reduce the risk of North Korea selling weapons or nuclear material.

“It’s something that we’ve put at the center of discussions and negotiations with China,” Obama told reporters.

GLOBAL HEALTH CHECK

The global economy topped the agenda earlier in the day, when G7 leaders voiced concern about emerging economies and Abe made a pointed comparison to the 2008 global financial crisis. Not all his G7 partners appeared to agree.

The G7 leaders did agree on the need for flexible spending to spur world growth but the timing and amount depended on each country, Seko told reporters, adding some countries saw no need for such spending. Britain and Germany have been resisting calls for fiscal stimulus.

“G7 leaders voiced the view that emerging economies are in a severe situation, although there were views that the current economic situation is not a crisis,” Seko said .

Abe presented data showing global commodities prices fell 55 percent from June 2014 to January 2016, the same margin as from July 2008 to February 2009, after the Lehman collapse.

Lehman had been Wall Street’s fourth-largest investment bank when it filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 15, 2008, making its bankruptcy by far the biggest in U.S. history. Its failure triggered the global financial crisis.

Abe hopes, some political insiders say, to use a G7 statement on the global economy as cover for a domestic fiscal package including the possible delay of a rise in the nation’s sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent planned for next April.

Obama ripped into Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying the billionaire had rattled other G7 leaders and that his statements were aimed at getting headlines, not what was needed to keep America safe and the world on an even keel.

Trump has been accused of racism, misogyny and bigotry for saying he would build a giant wall to keep out illegal Mexican immigrants, would temporarily ban Muslims from the United States and after he made a series of comments considered demeaning to women.

Summit pageantry began when Abe escorted G7 leaders to the Shinto religion’s holiest site, the Ise Grand Shrine in central Japan, dedicated to sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami, mythical ancestress of the emperor.

On Wednesday night, Abe met Obama for talks dominated by the arrest of a U.S. military base civilian worker in connection with the killing of a young woman on Japan’s southern Okinawa island, reluctant host to the bulk of the U.S. military in Japan.

The attack has marred Obama’s hopes of keeping his Japan trip strictly focused on his visit on Friday to Hiroshima, site of the world’s first atomic bombing, to highlight reconciliation between the two former World War Two foes and his nuclear anti-proliferation agenda.

The G7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Wilson, Kiyoshi Takenaka, Kylie MacLellan, Ami Miyazaki, and Ben Blanchard; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel)

Philippines says China broke deal on South China Sea agreement

File photo of two Chinese surveillance ships which sailed between Philippines warship and Chinese fishing

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Thursday accused China of breaking a U.S.-brokered deal between the two nations on the Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited rocky outcrop in the South China Sea.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines also claim the waterway, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne goods pass every year.

Beijing seized control of Scarborough Shoal, near the main Philippine island of Luzon, in June 2012, following a three-month standoff after a Philippine Navy vessel tried to arrest Chinese fishermen found illegally hauling giant clams there.

On Thursday, Aquino said the United States moved in quickly to resolve the standoff, brokering a “face-saving” deal by asking both nations to pull out their ships, but only the Philippines withdrew.

“Now, their continued presence is something that we have continuously objected to,” Aquino told reporters in his hometown in Tarlac, north of the Philippine capital.

“There was a deal, which we observed religiously. We hope the other side will do what we have done.”

China’s embassy in Manila did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment on Aquino’s remarks.

Beijing has denied ever making a deal with Manila and Washington, a Philippine diplomat who was involved in the negotiations told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

China has reclaimed seven reefs in the Spratlys islands, building two airfields, ports, lighthouses radars, and other military structures, which the United States has called a clear move to militarise the disputed area.

In March, Washington warned that China might next reclaim the Scarborough Shoal, after Beijing sent survey ships to the area, although a Philippine military aircraft despatched to check the reports did not find a survey ship there.

“China is not reclaiming Scarborough Shoal,” Aquino said, allaying the fears that Beijing might reclaim the shoal, just outside the former U.S. naval base in Subic.

There have been many “red lines” in China’s assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, Aquino added, such as harassing a survey ship hired by an Anglo-Philippine firm seeking oil and gas in the Reed Bank.

Both Reed Bank and Scarborough Shoal lie in the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone, Aquino said, calling China’s actions a violation of a 2002 pact on the South China Sea between China and ten Southeast Asian nations.

(Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Chinese jets intercept U.S. military plane over South China Sea

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative file image of an octagonal tower with a conical feature at its top, located on the northeast side of Subi Reef

By Idrees Ali and Megha Rajagopalan

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – Two Chinese fighter jets carried out an “unsafe” intercept of a U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, drawing a rebuke from Beijing, which demanded that Washington end surveillance near China.

The incident, likely to increase tension in and around the contested waterway, took place in international airspace on Tuesday as the U.S. maritime patrol aircraft carried out “a routine U.S. patrol,” a Pentagon statement said.

The encounter comes a week after China scrambled fighter jets as a U.S. Navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea.

Another Chinese intercept took place in 2014 when a Chinese fighter pilot flew acrobatic maneuvers around a U.S. spy plane.

The intercept occurred days before President Barack Obama travels to parts of Asia from May 21-28, including a Group of Seven summit in Japan and his first trip to Vietnam.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.

Washington has accused Beijing of militarizing the South China Sea after creating artificial islands, while Beijing, in turn, has criticized increased U.S. naval patrols and exercises in Asia.

The Pentagon statement said the Department of Defense was addressing the issue through military and diplomatic channels.

“ENDANGERING SECURITY”

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the U.S. statement was “not true” and that the aircraft had been engaging in reconnaissance close to China’s island province of Hainan.

“It must be pointed out that U.S. military planes frequently carry out reconnaissance in Chinese coastal waters, seriously endangering Chinese maritime security,” Hong told reporters at a regular press briefing on Thursday.

“We demand that the United States immediately cease this type of close reconnaissance activity to avoid having this sort of incident happening again,” Hong said, adding that the actions of the Chinese aircraft were “completely in keeping with safety and professional standards”.

“They maintained safe behavior and did not engage in any dangerous action,” Hong said.

China’s Defense Ministry said in a fax that it was looking into reports on the incident.

The Pentagon has yet to release the precise location of the encounter.

SIGNAL OF DISPLEASURE?

In 2015, the United States and China announced agreements on a military hotline and rules of behavior to govern air-to-air encounters called the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES).

“This is exactly the type of irresponsible and dangerous intercepts that the air-to-air annex to CUES is supposed to prevent,” said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank.

Poling said either some part of China’s airforce “hadn’t gotten the message”, or it was meant as a signal of displeasure with recent U.S. freedom of navigation actions in the South China Sea.

“If the latter, it would be very disappointing to find China sacrificing the CUES annex for political gamesmanship.”

Zhang Baohui, a security expert at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University, said he believed the encounter highlighted the limitation of CUES, and shows that Chinese pilots would still fly close to U.S. surveillance planes if needed.

“Frankly, we’re always going to see these kinds of incidents as China will always put the priority on national security over something like CUES whenever it feels its interests are directly threatened,” he said.

While the precise location of the encounter is not yet known, regional military attaches and experts say the southern Chinese coast is a military area of increasing sensitivity for Beijing.

Its submarine bases on Hainan are home to an expanding fleet of nuclear-armed submarines and a big target for on-going Western surveillance operations.

The Guangdong coast is also believed to be home to some of China’s most advanced missiles, including the DF-21D anti-ship weapon.

The Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Spratly Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Fiery Cross Reef, where it has built a 3,000 meter (9,800 ft) runway.

In April 2001, an intercept of a U.S. spy plane by a Chinese fighter jet resulted in a collision that killed the Chinese pilot and forced the American plane to make an emergency landing at a base on Hainan.

The 24 U.S. air crew members were held for 11 days until Washington apologized for the incident. That encounter soured U.S.-Chinese relations in the early days of President George W. Bush’s first administration.

Last month, the Pentagon said that Russia had intercepted a U.S. Air Force aircraft over the Baltic Sea in an “unsafe and unprofessional” way.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington, Greg Torode in Hong Kong, and Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by Sandra Maler, Lincoln Feast and Mike Collett-White)

World ‘greatly worried’ on China’s maritime expansion, says Japan

Still image from United States Navy video purportedly shows Chinese dredging vessels in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, speaking ahead of a visit to Beijing, said on Monday China was making the world “worried” with its military buildup and maritime expansion in the East and South China Seas.

Ties between China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, have long been plagued by a territorial dispute, regional rivalry and the legacy of Japan’s World War Two aggression.

China and Japan dispute sovereignty over a group of uninhabited East China Sea islets, while in the South China Sea, Beijing is building islands on reefs to bolster its claims.

China has rattled nerves with its military and construction activities on the islands in the South China Sea, including building runways, though Beijing says most of what it is building is for civilian purposes, like lighthouses.

“Candidly speaking, a rapid and opaque increase in (China’s) military spending and unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas under the aim of building a strong maritime state are having not only people in Japan, but countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the international community worried greatly,” Kishida said in a speech to business leaders.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the waters, through which about $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year.

Kishida plans to visit China as early as Japan’s “Golden Week” extended holiday, which starts on Friday.

“Through candid dialogue with the Chinese side, I want to get the wheel turning to create the Sino-Japanese relations that are suitable for a new age,” he said.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Nick Macfie)

China could build nuclear plants for South China Sea, paper says

China Made Island in South China Sea

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – China is getting closer to building maritime nuclear power platforms that could one day be used to support projects in the disputed South China Sea, a state-run newspaper said on Friday, but the foreign ministry said it had not heard of the plans.

China has rattled nerves with its military and construction activities on the islands it occupies in the South China Sea, including building runways, though Beijing says most of the construction is meant for civilian purposes, like lighthouses.

The Global Times, an influential tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, said the nuclear power platforms could “sail” to remote areas and provide a stable power supply.

China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, the company in charge of designing and building the platforms, is “pushing forward the work”, said Liu Zhengguo, the head of its general office.

“The development of nuclear power platforms is a burgeoning trend,” Liu told the paper. “The exact number of plants to be built by the company depends on the market demand.”

Demand is “pretty strong”, he added, without elaborating.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying played down the story as a media report, however.

“I’ve not heard here of the relevant situation,” Hua told a daily news briefing, without elaborating.

In January, two Chinese state-owned energy companies, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), signed a strategic cooperation framework pact on offshore oil and nuclear power.

CGN has been developing a small modular nuclear reactor for maritime use, called the ACPR50S, to provide power for offshore oil and gas exploration and production. It expects to begin building a demonstration project in 2017.

Xu Dazhe, head of China’s atomic safety commission, told reporters in January the floating platforms were in the planning stage and must undergo “strict and scientific demonstrations”.

Chinese naval expert Li Jie told the Global Times the platforms could power lighthouses, defense facilities, airports and harbors in the South China Sea. “Normally we have to burn oil or coal for power,” Li said.

It was important to develop a maritime nuclear power platform as changing weather and ocean conditions presented a challenge in transporting fuel to the distant Spratlys, he added.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, and is building islands on reefs to bolster its claims. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the waters, through which about $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year.

(Additional reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

China says U.S.-Philippines base deal raises questions over South China Sea

BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Monday agreements like the one reached last week by the United States and the Philippines allowing for a U.S. military presence at five Philippine bases raised questions about militarization in the South China Sea.

The United States is keen to boost the military capabilities of East Asian countries and its own regional presence in the face of China’s assertive pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

The United States and its regional allies have expressed concern that China is militarizing the South China Sea with moves to build airfields and other military facilities on the islands it occupies.

Asked about the base deal, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that U.S.-Philippine cooperation should not be targeted at any third party nor harm other nations’ sovereignty or security interests.

“I also want to point out that recently the U.S. military likes to talk about the so-called militarization of the South China Sea,” Hua told a daily news conference.

“Can they then explain, isn’t this kind of continued strengthening of military deployments in the South China Sea and areas surrounding it considered militarization?”

China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

The United States says it takes no sides in the disputes but wants to ensure free navigation through the sea. It has said it will increase what it calls freedom-of-navigation operations by its navy ships through the waters.

U.S. allies Malaysia and Australia both reiterated on Monday calls for freedom of navigation through the South China Sea.

“We’ve been extremely consistent in saying that our activities will continue, that we will send our ships and our planes to that part of the world as we require, as it is necessary in accordance to international law,” Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne said after meeting her counterpart in Malaysia.

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that free movement in the air and waters should continue.

China has never interfered with freedom of navigation and has stressed that some of the equipment it is installing on small islands and reefs will facilitate navigation.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, addtional reporting by Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel)