Fears of encirclement as South China Sea tensions continue
As a new US military base in Australia was announced, the media was divided on how threatened China is

Ed Zhang

It's not hard for China to feel cornered in its traditional maritime disputes with its neighbours.

That feeling intensified last week with two developments: the unveiling of plans by the United States and Australia to establish a US military base in Australia's Northern Territory, and the proposal by the US - described by Premier Wen Jiabao as an "outside force" - to discuss the South China Sea during the East Asia Summit in Bali, Indonesia, this weekend.

China claims a swathe of the South China Sea, which straddles key shipping lanes and is potentially rich in oil and gas reserves. But this claim has also locked it into a complex dispute with several countries that also claim rights to the area, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Added to the flammable mix is an oil exploration deal in the sea that India has reportedly struck with Vietnam. Although not directly part of the territorial claim, the situation has prompted strains of concern from the US, Japan and Australia.

Chinese commentators were split in their views on the two developments.

Some commentators appeared open-minded about the stirrings in the troubled waters. One columnist on the government-run China.com.cn website suggested on Friday that disputes and controversies were a natural part of all international dialogue mechanisms and not something to be distressed about. The writer said that irrespective of whether the South China Sea was discussed at the Bali summit, China's disagreements with its neighbours were not about to go away. And there was nothing to fear from China and the US discussing their differences. Would it be better if they never talked to each other? What could be achieved in the Asia-Pacific without the two countries laying their points on the table? Rather than exacerbating differences, meetings offered the chance to work towards gradual solutions, the columnist said.

Also on Friday, People's Daily carried a piece accusing the domestic media of giving too much attention to the South China Sea dispute, fanning the flames of the issue to the extent that it seemed as if war was imminent. In fact, the commentator said, China's relations with its neighbours have not deteriorated.

In contrast, complaints abounded about the role of the US. In an interview with China News Service on Friday, Wang Zaibang, vice-president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, described the US as "showing a strategic interest" in the disputed sea. Wang said the US and some "other countries" had been saying since the 1990s that there would be a war in the South China Sea and yet all the while China had maintained a peaceful policy towards its neighbours and relations had remained stable. "The only change that has occurred is the change that the US has recently brought about," he said.

Wang insisted that China had never acted against the main points proposed by the US, namely to be neutral, to seek a solution through peaceful negotiation, and to ensure free navigation. "One can only interpret the US proposal [for the East Asia Summit] as aimed at expanding its own influence in the region," he said.

Other notable input came courtesy of People's Liberation Army Major General Peng Guangqian and Li Jie, a senior colonel at the PLA Navy's military academy, in an interview that was carried on Chinese news websites but apparently first appeared last week on the People's Daily website, People.com.cn.

In the interview, the two senior military men said China may have to practise armed self-restraint for another decade while it continued to build up its military might. But after 10 years, it would make pre-emptive strikes on its challengers.

The interview has since been pulled from the People.com.cn site, although it can be read elsewhere.

The comments from the senior brass are not the only example of the kind of militant and populist views that proliferate on Chinese websites and other media.

Many editorials containing similar sentiments about the South China Sea have been published by Global Times, the nationalistic arm of the People's Daily. On Thursday, the newspaper called for China to punish the Philippines by cutting trade and tourism ties.