Summits 'not venue' for sovereignty discussion

The East Asia Summit and its relevant forums are "not proper venues" to discuss South China Sea issues, China's Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The United States has recently expressed on several occasions its interest in adding regional issues onto the agenda of a series of top-level international forums, mostly economic, that US President Barack Obama will soon attend, including the APEC, ASEAN and East Asia summits.

"The East Asia Summit and relevant meetings focus on regional cooperation and development," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news conference. "They are not an appropriate place for discussing the South China Sea issue."

Hong also urged relevant countries to "keep their commitment of taking no stance on relevant sovereignty disputes" and do not take actions that may "lead to more tensions and complications".

Premier Li Keqiang will attend the 18th Leaders' Meeting between ASEAN and China (10+1), the 18th Leaders' Meeting between ASEAN, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (10+3) and the 10th East Asia Summit, and will pay an official visit to Malaysia from Nov 20 to 23, at the invitation of Najib Razak, Malaysian prime minister and rotating president of ASEAN, Hong said.

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe planned to put China's construction projects in the South China Sea on the agenda of coming high-level international conferences, including the G20 summit, the APEC leaders' informal meeting, and relevant forums on East Asian cooperation.

"Japan has no right to make irresponsible comments on the sovereignty of the Nansha Islands," Hong said. "China's construction activities on some isles of the Nansha Islands are completely within China's sovereignty. It neither targets at, nor influences, any other country."

Amid tensions in the waters, the US Department of Defense announced on Thursday that they dispatched two B52 strategic bombers to fly near China's islands on the nights of Nov 8 and 9.

The US aircraft were contacted by Chinese ground controllers but continued their mission, according to Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman.

Reuters contributed to the story.

chenmengwei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/14/2015 page3)