© William Hong/Reuters
Srikandi - China boleh mempunyai kuasa kuat yang digunakan untuk mengusir negara secara haram menduduki pulau-pulau di Laut China Selatan, tetapi sebaliknya menunjukkan diri, seorang diplomat China telah berkata kira-kira pertikaian wilayah yang melukai hati.
Naib Menteri Luar Liu Zhenmin berkata demikian mengenai Kepulauan Spratly, kepulauan di mana tuntutan bertindih dengan China, Vietnam, Filipina, Malaysia, Taiwan dan Brunei semakin mewujudkan ketegangan.
"Kerajaan China mempunyai hak dan keupayaan untuk mendapatkan semula pulau-pulau dan terumbu yang diduduki secara haram oleh negara-negara jiran," kata Liu Selasa di Beijing, tanpa menamakan mana-mana negara tertentu.
"Tetapi kita tidak melakukan ini. Kami telah mengekalkan sekatan hebat dengan tujuan untuk mengekalkan keamanan dan kestabilan di Laut China Selatan," katanya.
Daripada 5 negara-negara yang terlibat dalam pertikaian wilayah, hanya Brunei tidak mempunyai kubu tentera di pulau-pulau Spratly.
Beijing: We could have kicked out nations illegally occupying S. China Sea islands . . .
China could have used force to expel nations illegally occupying its islands in the South China Sea, but instead is showing restraint, a top Chinese diplomat has said about the vexed territorial dispute.
Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin was speaking about the Spratly Islands, an archipelago where overlapping claims by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei are increasingly creating tensions.
"The Chinese government has the right and the ability to recover the islands and reefs illegally occupied by neighboring countries," Liu said Tuesday in Beijing, without naming any particular country.
"But we haven't done this. We have maintained great restraint with the aim to preserve peace and stability in the South China Sea," he added.
Of the five nations involved in the territorial disputes, only Brunei has no military fortifications on the Spratly islands.
South China Sea tensions: US declares right to fly, sail anywhere intl law allows (Laut China Selatan ketegangan: US mengisytiharkan hak untuk terbang, belayar undang-undang mana-mana sahaja intl membolehkan) http://on.rt.com/6uts 2:30 AM - 28 Oct 2015
China telah berusaha untuk mengukuhkan tuntutannya ke atas pulau-pulau dengan menuntut kembali beberapa terumbu di Nusantara dan membina infrastruktur di sana. Negara-negara lain telah kerap menyuarakan kebimbangan mengenai tindakan China.
"Kami mempunyai sebuah negara yang sedang membina lapangan terbang kecil 3 kilometer panjang dan kemudahan pelabuhan, kononnya untuk pengawal pantai," kata Timbalan Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi semasa pembukaan kongres parti di bandar Malaysia Kota Kinabalu, kelmarin.
"Adakah ini masuk akal apabila tanah besar negara itu adalah lebih daripada 3000 kilometer?"
China’s has been seeking to strengthen its claim to the islands by reclaiming several reefs in the archipelago and building infrastructure there. Other countries have regularly voiced concern about China’s actions.
"We have a country that is building 3 kilometer-long airstrips and port facilities, supposedly for its coast guard," Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said during the opening of a party congress in the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu on Saturday.
"Does this make sense when that country's mainland is more than 3,000 kilometers away?"
US allies in S. China Sea want expanded American presence in region – Pentagon chief (Sekutu Amerika Syarikat di Laut China Selatan mahu berkembang kehadiran Amerika di rantau - Ketua Pentagon) http://on.rt.com/6v88
Pengkritik berkata China sedang bersedia pulau-pulau tiruan sebagai pos-pos tentera. Landasan lama yang diperlukan untuk menjadi tuan rumah pesawat perang yang lebih berat, mereka berhujah. China menegaskan bahawa pembangunan awam adalah matlamat utamanya di kawasan yang dipertikaikan.
"Sebenarnya, yang lebih besar mereka, manfaat lebih awam mereka akan membawa," kata Liu, sambil menambah bahawa usaha menyelamat selepas kehilangan pesawat Malaysia Airlines MH370 tahun lepas menunjukkan kekurangan keupayaan di Laut China Selatan.
Mengawal Spratly adalah kunci untuk mengawal laluan air di mana $ 5 trilion pada perdagangan kapal bawaan pas setiap tahun, kebanyakannya dan dari China. Terdapat juga isu sumber semula jadi, yang setiap negara mahu menuntut sebagai semata-mata mereka sendiri. Laut China Selatan adalah sumber yang kaya tetapi semakin berkurangan ikan dan dipercayai mempunyai rizab yang besar hidrokarbon di bawah dasar laut itu.
Amerika Syarikat adalah mencabar tuntutan China ke pulau-pulau dengan menghantar kapal perang dan pesawat perang melalui ruang Beijing menegaskan berada di bawah kedaulatan negara. Washington berkata ia mempunyai hak untuk berlayar dan terbang melalui perairan antarabangsa dan ruang udara. China berkata ia menganggap apa-apa tindakan provokatif.
Critics say China is preparing the artificial islands as military outposts. The long runways are needed to host heavier warplanes, they argue. China insists that civilian development is its primary goal in the disputed area.
"Actually, the larger they are, the more civilian benefits they will bring," Liu said, adding that the rescue effort after the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 last year demonstrated a lack of capabilities in the South China Sea.
Controlling the Spratlys is a key to controlling waterways through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, mostly to and from China. There is also the issue of natural resources, which each country wants to claim as exclusively their own. The South China Sea is a rich but dwindling source of fish and is believed to have large reserves of hydrocarbons under its seabed.
The US is challenging China’s claim to the islands by sending its warships and warplanes through the space Beijing insists is under its sovereignty. Washington says it has every right to sail and fly through international waters and airspace. China says it considers such actions provocative.
