China plays down friction over maritime claims

Chinese officials have portrayed the Asian power as a reliable and peace-loving close neighbour of Southeast Asia, at a time when top Chinese leaders make official visits to the region.

They also played down China’s growing military might and its territorial conflict with certain member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). They said it was just a “friction” that would not affect the overall Sino-Asean ties.

Ma Mingqiang, secretary-general of the Asean-China Centre, which promotes cultural exchanges between China and Asean countries, compared both sides to close neighbours. “Close neighbours are better than faraway relatives,” he said in Beijing.

Jin Cheng, director general of Yunnan Provincial International Regional Cooperation Office, pointed to “inseparable connection” between China and Asean, with partial common borders and ethnic peoples on both sides of the borders.

Asean countries are the biggest destination for Chinese tourists, according to Liang Wentao, deputy director general of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Asian Affairs. As many as 7.3 million Chinese tourists visited Asean countries last year – more than 2 million of them came to Thailand.

Liang said trade between Asean and China has grown rapidly over the past decade, surpassing US$400 billion last year (accounting for 10 per cent of China’s total foreign trade). Asean is China’s third biggest trading partner, after the European Union and the United States. He expected Asean to surpass the US and become China’s second largest trading partner within three to five years.

China has been involved in a territorial conflict over islands and shoals in the South China Sea that are also claimed by Asean countries like Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The Philippines has recently been the most critical against China and took their case to UN arbitration.

“There are some problems between China and particular [Asean] countries, but China and Asean have no problems at all,” Hong Liang, deputy director general of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Asian Department, told a group of visiting Asean journalists in Beijing recently.

A senior Chinese diplomat in Beijing blamed “the media’s extreme preoccupation with the South China Sea problem”. He said the issue should not define China’s ties with Asean.

Hong said he did not think the issue would affect cooperation between China and Asean. Saying that Sino-Asean ties are “a key pillar in the stability and prosperity of East Asia”, he called for closer cooperation, particularly over security matters. “No security, no stability, no development, and no prosperity,” he said.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Indonesia and Malaysia last week as part of a Southeast Asian charm offensive, he announced that China was committed to closer cooperation with Asean. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of a strategic partnership between Asean and China.

Chinese foreign ministry officials also allayed concern over China’s growing military might. Speaking to a group of Asean journalists during their recent trip to China, Qin Gang, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that due to its long borders, China needs sufficient military power to defend itself.

An official from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said sufficient military power was to avoid “mistakes” in the past, when a militarily weak China was repeatedly occupied by foreign powers.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will also be on an official visit to Thailand from Friday to Sunday (October 11-13), during which he will meet Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to discuss strengthening mutual ties. Li will also visit Brunei and Vietnam during his three-leg Southeast Asia trip from October 9 to 15. Xi is attending the APEC summit in Indonesia while Li takes part in the Asean summit with East Asian leaders in Brunei.