Recent Developments Around the South China Sea

BEIJING – Overview of recent developments in the South China Sea, where China faces smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters critical to the South China Sea. world trade and rich in fish and oil and gas reserves:

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly review of the latest developments in the South China Sea, the site of several territorial conflicts that have caused tension in the region.

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CHINA DEMANDS END OF AMERICAN OPERATIONS

China has asked the United States to stop sending military ships and aircraft near its claims on the islands of the South China Sea during their talks for a meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping.

The United States pushed back on Friday, saying it would continue to "fly, sail and operate where international law permits." At the end of September, American and Chinese ships nearly collided near a controversial reef.

Tensions have also erupted in the midst of a bitter trade dispute that Trump and Xi are expected to tackle at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina to be held later this month.

The talks were to be held in Beijing last month, but were postponed after Washington 's announcement of new arms sales to Taiwan and after a Chinese destroyer approached the US. USS Decatur at the end of September in what the US Navy called "unsafe and unprofessional maneuver."

"The Chinese side has made it clear to the United States that it should stop sending its ships and its military planes near the Chinese islands and reefs, and put an end to the actions that undermine the Chinese." authority and the interests of Chinese security, "said Yang Jiechi, China's senior foreign policy advisor. also made harsh comments about US support for Taiwan.

However, Yang and the Chinese Minister of Defense, Wei Fenghe, also discussed the need to improve cooperation, especially between the US and Chinese armed forces, to mitigate the risk of conflict, the two powers arguing for the preeminence of pre-eminence in Asia-Pacific.

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VIETNAM PROTECTS CHINESE METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS

Vietnam protested China's launch of weather stations in the disputed islands of Spratly, claiming that they violated Vietnam's sovereignty and complicated the situation in the South China Sea.

China announced last week that it had started operating three island resorts to provide weather forecasts to fishermen in the South China Sea region, neighboring countries and passing ships.

Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Thi Thu Hang told reporters at a regular meeting on Thursday that Vietnam had the legal basis and historical evidence to assert its sovereignty over the Spratlys and Paracels and asked China to stop this action.

Chinese resorts are built on artificial islands built at the top of coral reefs, which also include landing strips, radar stations and other military elements.

"The fact that China has started using weather observation stations on structures illegally built in the Spratlys has seriously violated the sovereignty of Vietnam on the islands," she said.

"Vietnam constantly opposes this act and asks China to stop immediately the aforementioned actions," she said.

Hang said that China should respect the principles agreed between the two countries guiding the resolution of maritime problems and the declaration of the code of conduct in the South China Sea "without complicating the situation, affecting peace, security and stability" in the south of China Sea.

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CHINESE SHIP HOSTS JAPANESE SHIP

Despite Beijing's fierce objections to the involvement of "outside parties" in the South China Sea, a Chinese warship has sent its friendly greetings to a Japanese naval vessel as part of an overall improvement in relations between its regional rivals.

The Japanese state broadcaster NHK announced last week that the message was sent in October by the Chinese destroyer Lanzhou to the Japanese Kaga helicopter carrier.

"Hello, happy to see you," said the Chinese message quoted by the NHK.

China frequently evokes memories of Japan's brutal invasion and the occupation of most of its territory by World War II, to warn of what it calls the threat of the resurgence of Japanese militarism. China is also an energetic critic of the US-Japan defense alliance and opposes all actions of their two armies considered challenging its claim to almost all of the South China Sea.

However, trade frictions with the United States seem to bring the two countries closer, as Chinese President Xi Jinping told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month that the two countries "shared more common interests and concerns".

Sino-Japanese relations have been turbulent but are now "back to normal", said Abe to Abe during the first official visit to Beijing of a Japanese leader for nearly seven years.

Abe's visit highlights improved relations after reaching a low point in 2012 during a conflict over the islands of the East China Sea controlled by Japan but claimed by China.

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Associated press authors Mathew Pennington in Washington and Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report.

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