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本帖最后由 lilyma06 于 2011-11-21 16:53 编辑
China Plays Down Sea Spats to Woo Asean Nations By Daniel Ten Kate - Nov 21, 2011 12:01 AM GMT+0800 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-20/china-plays-down-sea-spats-to-woo-asean-from-u-s-siren-song-.html#
A file photograph from 2008 shows the beach on Philippine-occupied Pag-Asa island, the largest of the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Photographer: Joel Guinto/Bloomberg
China played down tensions with theU.S. and proposed funding to enhance maritime cooperation inSoutheast Asia after President Barack Obama challenged itsactions in the South China Sea at a summit of Asian leaders.
Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said China wascommitted to keeping sea lanes secure and called the U.S. “animportant player in Asia ever since the second world war,” onNov. 19 in Bali, Indonesia. China also chose not to criticize aU.S. agreement with Australia to bolster its military footprintin the region with the announcement that as many as 2,500Marines will be stationed in the north of the country.
China is “soft-talking to prevent more members of theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations from joining theWashington-led containment policy,” Willy Wo-Lap Lam, anadjunct history professor at the Chinese University of HongKong, said by e-mail. “Placatory gestures are being bolsteredby dollar diplomacy: More developmental and infrastructure aidwill be pouring into Asean countries, particularly those thathave not fallen for America’s siren song.”
China is seeking to reassure countries in the region afterits moves to assert sovereignty in waters that may contain oiland gas reserves provided Obama an opening to expand strategicties in Asia. Over the course of a nine-day Asia-Pacific tripthat began Nov. 11 in Hawaii, the president announced plans toadvance regional trade talks that don’t include China and calledon leaders of the world’s second largest economy to “play bythe rules.”
‘Cordial And Frank’ Liu characterized talks between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabaoand Obama on Nov. 19 as “very cordial and frank” and saidChina is ready to negotiate a legally binding conduct code inthe South China Sea with Asean nations. Of the 10 membercountries, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei havecompeting claims with China.
The Philippines and Vietnam, which have awarded explorationcontracts to Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM) and ForumEnergy Plc (FEP), reject China’s map of the sea as a basis for jointdevelopment. The South China Sea contains oil reserves that maytotal as much as 213 billion barrels, according to Chinesestudies cited in 2008 by the U.S. Energy Information Agency.
Obama, attending the East Asia summit for the first time,called it the “premier” arena to discuss maritime securityconcerns, a subject China has lobbied to keep out ofinternational gatherings because it touches on territorialdisputes. Sixteen of 18 leaders at the meeting mentionedmaritime security and most of them backed Obama’s position,according to a U.S. official who briefed reporters aboard AirForce One after the meeting.
Heavy-Handed Approach The Chinese came away from the meetings believing that aheavy-handed approach on the South China Sea would backfire, theofficial said.
White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said Nov.18 that commerce is the main U.S. motive for weighing in onterritorial disputes in the waters. He declined to note specificinstances when trade was impeded.
“The United States interest here is in the freedom of flowin commerce,” he said. While the U.S. “doesn’t have a claim”in the territorial disputes, “we do believe that there shouldbe developed a collaborative diplomatic process for theresolution of these claims.”
Obama has set a goal of doubling U.S. exports to $3.14trillion a year by the end of 2014 and he said Asia is key tothat goal. The U.S. this year has exported more to the PacificRim than to Europe, Commerce Department figures show.
Currency Spat During his Asia-Pacific trip, Obama has pushed China toallow its currency to trade more flexibly and the official ChinaCentral Television reported that Wen told the president in Balithat the government will increase the flexibility offluctuations in its currency. Policy makers in China havepledged to shift the nation’s growth toward domestic demand andnarrow its external surplus to help address lopsided flows oftrade and investment.
The yuan is allowed to fluctuate 0.5 percent on either sideof the daily fixing rate set by the central bank. China’s yuanhas appreciated about 4 percent against the dollar this year,according to Bloomberg data, the best performance of 10 Asiancurrencies tracked by Bloomberg.
The 22nd U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Tradeopened in the central Chinese city of Chengdu yesterday, withAmerican officials saying beforehand they would push for Chinato take concrete action to protect intellectual property rightsand buy more U.S. products.
China is Asean’s biggest trading partner, accounting for11.6 percent of all commerce, compared with 9.7 percent for theU.S. in 2009, according to the latest available statistics. Liusaid China had no interest in impeding trade.
Severed Cables “China believes that freedom of navigation has not been afactor in the South China Sea,” Liu told reporters after themeeting. “With the rapid development of economies in China andEast Asian countries, the country and region attach moreimportance to freedom of navigation than anybody else.”
Liu also unveiled a 3 billion-yuan ($472 million) fund todevelop a “maritime connection network” with Southeast Asiannations, he said.
China has used patrol boats to disrupt hydrocarbon surveyactivities in waters it claims, chasing away a ship working forForum Energy off the Philippines in March and slicing cables ofa survey vessel doing work for Vietnam in May.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Nov. 16 in Manilathat the U.S. would boost the Philippines’ naval defenses andwork to ensure there isn’t a “big thumb on the scale” thatpushes development or strategic issues.
U.S. Backing
The U.S. presence “bolsters our ability to assert oursovereignty over certain areas,” Ricky Carandang, a spokesmanfor Philippines President Benigno Aquino, said Nov. 17. ThePhilippines, a U.S. treaty ally, has called for China to adjustits sea claims according to the United Nations Law of the Sea.That would cost China rights to a large swathe of the waters nowencompassed by its tongue-shaped nine-dash map that extendshundreds of miles south from Hainan Island to the equatorialwaters off the coast of Borneo.
“In circumstances when they are outnumbereddiplomatically, and with the U.S. hovering on the sidelines likea school prefect, China usually goes back into its shell,” saidGary Li, an analyst with Exclusive Analysis Ltd., a London-basedbusiness advisory firm.
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发表于 2011-11-22 01:12
