Diplomacy strained by launch of war drills
Military drills add to diplomatic stresses over South China Sea

Ng Tze-wei in Beijing

Sino-US relations are under yet another severe test as a massive joint military drill began yesterday off the Korean Peninsula, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry lashed out at the US for "attacking" Beijing on the sensitive issue of the South China Sea.

The military drills, code-named "Invincible Spirit" and a response to the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, are to run until Wednesday with about 8,000 US and South Korean troops, 20 ships and submarines and 200 aircraft. Led by the Nimitz-class USS George Washington, they were also going to take place in the Yellow Sea off the east coast of China. But that arrangement was dropped after vehement protests from Beijing.

While the United States said the drill meant to "get North Korea's attention", most mainland media yesterday reported it as a move to contain China.

Also yesterday, the Foreign Ministry accused US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of an "attack" on China for her recent comment that competing claims over South China Sea island chains should be resolved without coercion or threat.

"What is the intent behind talking about threats in the South Sea issue?" Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Regional Forum in Hanoi according to a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry website yesterday. "China has its reasonable concerns. Does expressing these concerns amount to a threat? This does not make sense."

On Friday, Clinton said at the Asean forum that resolving the South China Sea dispute was now in the United States' "national interest" and "a diplomatic priority ", the first time the dispute was raised to such level on the US' Asia agenda.

China declared the South China Sea its "core interest" this month, which in diplomatic code gives it sovereignty priority on a par with Taiwan and Tibet.

Yang emphasised that the region is peaceful, that Asian countries can take care of the matter themselves, and that internationalising the matter would only complicate it.

"International practice shows that this type of dispute is best resolved through direct bilateral talks," Yang said. "Asia is rising. Asian countries can treat one another with fairness and respect, and properly resolve each other's concerns."

Together, the drill and the new round of bickering over the South China Sea were likely to further strain military ties between China and the United States, which have been tense since China suspended high-level exchanges in response to the US' sale of US$6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan in February, Sino-US relations experts said.

Tsinghua University international relations professor Sun Zhe said the bilateral military ties were facing a "new crisis", calling on both sides to show further restraint in handling the sensitive territorial issues. But he also believed the new twists on the ever-bumpy road of Sino-US relations would not shake the core of the most important bilateral tie in the world.

Sun said China and the US had been acting with a certain amount of restraint regarding the drill. For example, the US did not approach Japan to join the drill, and it finally withdrew from the Yellow Sea.

Sun also said that Clinton's speech in Hanoi was in line with the Obama administration's renewed emphasis on Asia, and that the US was taking the historical opportunity of China's territorial dispute in the South China Sea to strengthen its presence in Asia.

"The competition between China and the United States is going to be long-term and comprehensive. The key is to engage in constant negotiation," Sun said. "China should not avoid direct confrontation with the United States.

"It should resume military talks with the United States. It can set the negotiation agenda, or even criticise the US in the negotiations." He added that resuming the talks was not a show of giving in.

The prospect of an immediate improvement in bilateral ties was apparently not too likely, said Nanyang Technological University Professor Li Mingjiang , from Singapore. But he also agreed that the territorial issues did not pose serious threats to Sino-US relations. "The interference of the US in China's relationship with its Asean neighbours is probably something China should be more concerned about," he added.

Since Obama came into office, his administration has increasingly voiced concerns over China's aggressive stance on maritime affairs.

US Defence Secretary Dr Robert Gates told a security forum in Singapore this year Washington objected to any effort to intimidate US oil firms engaged in lawful contracts in the region. China makes the US' halting of surveillance in the region's waters a prerequisite for the resumption of military exchanges. The sinking of the Cheonan in March, killing 46 sailors, further upset the relationship.