Vietnamese students celebrate lunar new year in australia © Getty Images
In the past, when Vietnam needed to sell weapons to the US to help secure its own borders, China would come to Singapore to look after military transactions. However, this is no longer the case. China’s presence is increasingly confined to its ports – it does not seem to want to deal with the civilian traffic going across its waters.
At least four Chinese vessels have passed near Singapore – in one incident, a Vietnamese vessel had its Vietnamese flag waved and two Chinese ships escorted it off the beach of Tanjong Pagar at dawn in February.
But this week, the vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission, Col Ong Jia-ling, said Singapore was looking more closely at the Chinese navy to find out how to limit its presence in the South China Sea.
China has been involved in a war of words with Brunei over the construction of a massive oil rig at Mischief Reef near the Paracel Islands (South China Sea).
Earlier this year, a US Navy aircraft spotted a Chinese patrol aircraf바카라t near a US aircraft carrier in the South Ch더킹카지노ina Sea, but said they had not yet found the cause.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has also stressed Beijing’s claim that it had the right to build „indigenous facilities on the high seas“, meaning any foreign firm that wants to enter the resource-rich sea must seek approval from China.
China is already blocking imports of certain crude oil products, and other energy products with the exception of hydrocarbons, because it says it has been cheated by Asian countries over the price of those products.
However, China now holds most of the oil and gas reserves in the South China Sea, and it is keen to keep some of the oil in the sea because there are growing concerns in the region that a decline in its production could cost it billions of dollars in lost oil income.
Vietnam’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement on Monday that China should be held „pardonless and responsible“ for what it is doing in the South China Sea.
The ministry added that it „does not wish to be treated like a third party“, and did not hold Beijing accountable for actions being tak더킹카지노en by its country in the South China Sea.
However, the Foreign Ministry said China and its neighbors should make efforts to establish „good neighbourly relations“.
‚Disproportionate‘
The Philippines said Beijing had no legitimate territorial claim to the South China Sea.
„Th