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| Image: Flickr User - Greg Bishop |
By Ankit Panda
Speaking on Saturday, Xi Jinping and Ashton Carter laid out their respective positions on the South China Sea.
Nearly two weeks after the first U.S. freedom of navigation operation near a Chinese artificial island in the South China Sea, tensions remain high. On Saturday, speaking on opposite ends of the Pacific Ocean, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter delivered parallel remarks on the South China Sea that highlighted the rift between the U.S. and Chinese positions on the issue.
Xi, in Singapore for a historic meeting with his counterpart across the Taiwan Strait, Ma Ying-jeou, delivered remarks at the National University of Singapore where he described China’s position that the “islands in the South China Sea have been China’s territory since ancient times.” Xi added that the “Chinese government must take responsibility to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and legitimate maritime interests.”
“Some people have been hyping China’s threat,” Xi continued. “This is either due to the ignorance of Chinese history, culture and current policy, or out of some misunderstanding and prejudice, and probably for some ulterior reasons.”
Though Xi’s language was in line with statements on the South China Sea by the Chinese foreign and defense ministers, the optics of the Chinese president himself making these declarations in Singapore, a hub for Southeast Asian commercial maritime activity, emphasized the extent to which China is interested in publicly clarifying its position on the South China Sea after the U.S. Navy has started undertaking freedom of navigation patrols.
Read the full story at The Diplomat