Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the ongoing NPC session in Beijing on China’s foreign minister defended his government’s efforts to reclaim and develop land around disputed reefs and islands in the South China Sea, saying the work was “necessary” and posed no threat to other nations.
“This construction does not target or affect anyone,” Wang Yi said at a news conference Sunday on the sidelines of an annual meeting of parliament.
“We are not like some countries who engage in illegal construction in another person’s house, and we do not accept criticism from others when we are merely building facilities in our own yard. We have every right to do things that are lawful and justified.”
Satellite images show China has significantly expanded reclamation and construction work on several reefs it controls in the disputed Spratly Islands in the past two years, raising fresh concerns in the U.S. and Asia about increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region.
U.S. officials have spoken out in recent weeks against the construction work, which defense experts say could form a network of island fortresses to help enforce Chinese control of most of the South China Sea—one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.
Vietnam publicly protested China’s reclamation work last week. Vietnam and other countries with South China Sea claims have also built infrastructure on islands and reefs they control, but on a much smaller scale than China, U.S. officials and defense experts say.
ENLARGE
Mr. Wang said China had made progress in negotiations with India over their disputed Himalayan border, without giving details. China lodged an official protest last month when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited one of the disputed border areas.
Mr. Wang also didn’t rule out inviting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a military parade in China marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Asked if Mr. Abe would come, he said all world leaders were welcome at the parade “as long as they come in sincerity.” But he reiterated China’s stance that Japan needed to reflect on its wartime aggression.
Asked if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would attend the parade, on what would be his first visit to China since taking power in late 2011, Mr. Wang said the two sides would have to see when it was “convenient” for their leaders to meet.
China’s claims cover almost all of the South China Sea, and overlap with those of Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines—a U.S. treaty ally. Many of those countries have bolstered defense ties with the U.S. in recent years in response to what they see as Beijing’s enhanced efforts to enforce its claims.
In the past year, China has tried to improve relations with its neighbors by unveiling plans for massive investment in roads, pipelines, ports and other infrastructure that it says will help to build new overland and maritime trade routes between Asia and Europe.
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