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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 potential reserves of oil and gas:
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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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AMERICAN CARRIER IN HONG KONG AFTER BOMBERS FROM THE SEA OF CHINA
A US aircraft carrier moored in Hong Kong last week, days after two US B-52 bombers flew over the South China Sea.
The arrival of USS Ronald Reagan and his battle group in the Asian financial center was seen as a friendly gesture in the prospect of a meeting scheduled later this month between President Donald Trump and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. This is the first time they have sat together since the beginning of a fierce trade war and amid tensions over the South China Sea.
At the end of September, a Chinese destroyer approached USS Decatur in the South China Sea in what the US Navy described as "unsafe and unprofessional maneuver".
Invited to comment on the incident, Vice Admiral Karl O. Thomas, commander of the Carrier Strike Group 5 air strike group, said that "the vast majority of our interactions at sea are very professional."
"It was a rare and unusual event," Thomas told reporters at a press conference aboard the ship. "It was unfortunate and I would like to see that it does not happen again."
The US Pacific Air Force said two B-52 bombers flew over the South China Sea earlier in the week, calling it a "routine training mission".
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PHOTOS OF THE NEW CONSTRUCTION ON A REEF HELD BY CHINA
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) announced that China had installed a new platform at Bombay Reef, an isolated and underdeveloped element of the Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands, in the United States. South China Sea. Vietnam and Taiwan also claim the reef.
The platform appears to be surmounted by a radome and solar panels, and its strategic location points to the extension of China's radar intelligence gathering in the region, the report said. Bombay Reef already has a lighthouse for easy navigation.
According to the SCRS, unlike the large artificial islands created in China by the piling up of sand over coral reefs, the installation of the modest-sized Bombay Reef platform did not require significant environmental damage. . However, this shows how easily China could expand its footprint to other entities such as Scarborough Shoal, which it had seized from the Philippines in 2012, she added.
Compared to dredging and rehabilitation, the installation of a modest platform would be "harder to prevent at the time and more difficult to gather international condemnation after the fact," says the report.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he had no information on the details of the report, while reaffirming China's right to expand its activities in the islands. claimed.
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CHINA'S XI GIVES 3-YEAR FRAMEWORK FOR DISCUSSION ON "CODE OF CONDUCT"
Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the negotiations between Beijing and the Southeast Asian countries on a non-aggression pact to prevent clashes in the South China Sea could be concluded in three years, and promised that any difference would be settled peacefully.
Xi made these assurances after having talks with President Rodrigo Duterte and other officials during a visit to the Philippines with the aim of deepening their relations with the US treaty ally. .
Xi's night visit to the Philippine capital, Manila, was his last stop on a three-country trip to Asia, where he had offered infrastructure loans and help and defended free trade in a rivalry. regional influence on the United States.
"We will continue to manage contentious issues and promote maritime cooperation through friendly consultations," Xi said. He added that China aimed to conclude negotiations on the "Code of Conduct" in the disputed waters with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the next three years.
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CHINA AND PHILIPPINES SIGN COVENANT ON GAS DEVELOPMENT
During Xi's visit to the Philippines, the parties signed a "Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development," but officials provided little detail.
Prior to Xi's visit, China and the Philippines attempted to negotiate an agreement allowing joint exploration of oil and gas in disputed waters. No consensus seems to have been reached.
"It's a cooperation to find ways to find a solution," said Philippine Secretary of Energy Alfonso Cusi, about the agreement signed during Xi's visit.
Philippine nationalists have warned that any deal that would undermine the Philippines' exclusive rights to fish and exploit internationally-recognized resources within 200 miles of the country's coast would violate the Philippine constitution.
Relations between Beijing and Manila deteriorated as a result of territorial divisions until Duterte became president of the presidency in mid-2016 and sought to restore ties with China while dramatically criticizing US security policy. The administration of Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, had brought territorial disputes with China to international arbitration and won, but China had ignored the result.
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Jim Gomez, associate author in Manila, Philippines, contributed to the writing of this report.
