March 19 ------ After a statement issued by the G7 nations that criticized China's aggression in the South China Sea, China's embassy in Canada fired back with a strongly-worded missive accusing the Western coalition of arrogant behavior.
The offending statement was a joint declaration from a G7 foreign ministers' meeting at a resort in Quebec last Friday. The G7 release condemned "China’s illicit, provocative, coercive and dangerous actions that seek unilaterally to alter the status quo . . . including through land reclamations, and building of outposts, as well as their use for military purpose."
China has at least two separate initiatives for the construction of military outposts and reclamation. On land, satellite imaging shows that China has recently invested in infrastructure and housing development in the long-contested border zones along its western boundaries with India and Bhutan, raising concerns that Beijing could unilaterally declare ownership of lands that were previously subject to negotiation. For maritime security, the main concern is the Chinese island-building and maritime presence campaign in the Spratly Islands. China claims ownership of the entire archipelago under its "nine-dash line" policy, which was invalidated by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague in 2016. China has disregarded the ruling, and it has invested heavily in fortifying and manning a string of island bases within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone, hundreds of miles away from mainland China.
In related language, the G7 also emphasized "the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as indispensable to international security and prosperity." China claims Taiwan as its own, and has vowed to bring the island under Beijing's control, by force if necessary. China opposes foreign support for Taiwan, and it asserts that cross-strait relations are purely an internal Chinese matter.
The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa received the G7's statements as an affront, and it responded within hours. "The [G7] statements are filled with arrogance, prejudice and malicious intentions to suppress and attack China. China strongly deplores and opposes this and has lodged solemn representations with the Canadian side," an embassy spokesperson said. "[They] repeat the same old rhetoric, ignore facts and China's solemn position, grossly interfere in China's internal affairs, and blatantly smear China."
Source: maritime-executive.com
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