US-China South China Sea competition; Chinese scholar issues harsh statement

US Zhongnanhai Lu scholars put relentless wrestling

(Translated, Boxun Beijing Tuesday June 9, 2015)

Mainland China scholar Ruan Zongze said today that the U.S., Japan, and the Philippines continuing to raise the South China Sea military issue isn’t good for the situation. And everything the U.S. continues to do “I’m afraid in the future they’ll regret” because it compels China to do things “that in the past we didn’t want to do.”

The People’s Daily Network reported that Ruan Zongze is currently Assistant Director of the China Institute of International Studies. He was reacting to PRC ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai’s comments to CNN when he made these remarks.

Ruan Zongze said Cui Tiankai’s answers on whether China would erect an Air Defense Identification Zone in the South China Sea contained two new pieces of information. 1. China “has this right,” but when it exercises this right is open to question. It will decide in accordance with circumstances. 2. China must “maintain regional peace and stability.”

He said that the United States has “very strange logic,” in maintaining that China must “consult with the U.S.” on establishing an Air Defense Identification Zone. When the US established Air Defense Identification Zones in the 1950s “they didn’t consult with anyone.” When the US helped Japan establish an Air Defense Identification Zone forty years ago, did they consult with China?

Ruan Zongze mentioned that the US, Japan, and the Philippines keep bringing up the South China Sea situation in order to “militarize” the area, a development detrimental to the situation in the South China Sea.

Everything the United States is now doing “I’m afraid they will regret in the future” because it compels China to do things “that in the past we didn’t want to do.”

When Beijing ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai accepted CNN’s interview and was asked if China would set up a South China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, he pointed out that the US was the first country to set up Air Defense Identification Zones. At present more than 20 countries have followed their lead. China “of course has the right to do the same thing.”

Ambassador Cui Tiankai said: whether we do it or not will be decided by the mainland’s “judgement of the situation, of course we will proceed with caution.”

http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2015/06/201506090251.shtml