Chinese envoy Ma Keqing: Asia-Pacific wide enough for China and the US
After the previous clashed and killings of ASEAN people in Spratlys; China denied of using force by its recent statement.
"China does not intend to invade or use its military might to interfere in the affairs of any of its neighbors, including the Philippines and four other countries claiming ownership of the Spratlys in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea)", Beijing's new ambassador to Manila said Thursday March 15, 2012.
Chinese envoy Ma Keqing's statement is opposite of what real happening in the Spratlys as they fired Filipino Fishermen and forced to leave their waters.
China already invaded one of the reefs in the Philippine waters during the Ramos Administration and tried to establish a military garrison near Palawan.
"We have no ambition or ability to pose a threat to other countries … What we want to do is to protect China's interests, protect its borders and sovereignty. That's all," Ambassador Ma Keqing told a news conference held Thursday at her residence in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City.
China's calming tactics means in the preparation status for a full blown invasion. China has secretly scheduled the deep water research equipment to be launched for the waters in Spratlys in the Philippines.
Asked about the US plan to increase its military presence in the region, Ma said "China has responded very calmly" to the issue.
"The Asia-Pacific is wide enough to accommodate (both) the US and China," she said.
Ma, who assumed her post only two months ago, noted the 11.2-percent increase in China's military budget this year might have "aroused suspicions" among other countries about its real intentions. She emphasized that China's military policy was "purely defensive in nature."
Even Ma keqing's denial, Chinese mouthpiece already expressed that the Philippines must prepare a sound of cannon and must pay a high price for inviting USA to intervene the disputes.
The disputes in the spraltys is continuously crawling from the boundary of the Philippines 200 Nautical Miles Exclusive economic Zone into the waters and shore of Palawan.
China included the Reed bank or Recto Bank to the disputes which is in fact the area is not part of the spratlys but at a Philippines undisputed waters.
Recently China is also crawling and create a dispute with South Korea over the Ieo-do (Ee-yoo-do) or Ieo Island in the South of Jeju island.
Ieo-do (Ieo Island of South Korea is claimed by China)
Ma Keqing pointed out that the growth in China's military budget had been "very minimal" for a long time. "We increased the growth just to compensate for the previous years of neglecting the military budget," she said. A copy-cut terms from the lagging of security defense of the Philippines.
Ma said the bulk of military expenditures had been used "for logistics, for improvement of the officers' well-being, to increase wages and so on. It was only in the last few years we used the increase in budget to purchase hardware for the military."
The military budget was "only 1.3 percent of the total (government) budget," she stressed, pointing out that it was much lower than that of the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, India and Brazil.
"So with such a military budget, I believe the Chinese Army will not pose any threat to other countries," she said.
Ma Keqing tried to cool down the tension so that the neighbor would be complacent in their presence in ASEAN territory.
Military Pie
Early this March, Beijing announced that its defense budget would increase to 670.27 billion yuan (about $106.41 billion) this year. The amount marks a slowdown from 2011 when its budget rose by 12.7 percent but still set off alarm bells across Asia and the United States.
In January, Washington disclosed a defense strategy focused on countering China's rising power.
In her first news conference in the country, Ma expressed hopes the Philippines and China could "finally find a way to start the negotiations" on the joint development of areas in the West Philippine Sea.
"As Chinese, we are patient. But with patience and wisdom and goodwill, we can finally find a way," she said. "Our thinking is that pending the final resolution of (the Spratlys dispute), we should shelve and put aside our differences and have a joint cooperation (agreement)."
"The resources are there to tap," Ma said, adding that economic development "is our priority" for China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei, which are claiming ownership over the Spratlys.
Philippines regret of inviting investor from china for the Reed Bank
China expected that the Philippines have already given up its ownership in the Reed bank that makes China rejoiced sending their warship in the area for a possible takeover. The Philippines position clarified that they invited Chinese investor for the Reed bank not for a joint cooperation but will explore the oil under the Philippines law. Ma Keqing reassert is claim crawling the Reed Bank "But since it's in the disputed islands, no one can take action unilaterally. So the proper way to do that, or the starting point is to shelve differences and disputes and have joint cooperation," she said.
Earlier, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the joint development of areas in the West Philippine Sea that "are clearly ours is not a viable option" to the country's problem with China. But he said the Philippines "is open to considering joint development in the disputed areas."
Del Rosario said he "reiterated our position that we are open to inviting China to the Recto Bank (Reed Bank) as an investor to be governed by our laws" during a recent meeting with Wang Yingfan and Wang Chunqui, two former Chinese ambassadors to the Philippines who were here on a goodwill visit.
The Recto Bank is an "integral part of the Philippines and, as such, cannot be jointly developed," he said.
During the news conference yesterday, Ma said China "is not against the rules-based interpretation of the dispute."
"We also endorse international norms that we should abide by. But one cannot side only with few clauses of the (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS) and neglect other clauses," she said.
Written by Makisig Bayani
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