During an annual security conference in Singapore on Sunday, Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of the People‘s Liberation Army, reiterated that the Chinese government and military seek only peaceful development. He said other countries should not view its military beef-up as a threat.
China is embroiled in a series of disputes with its neighbors, including a high-profile one with Japan that has soured bilateral relations, and with several countries around the South China Sea who dispute China’s claims to potentially oil-rich areas of the sea.
Beijing and Tokyo have been caught up in a long-running battle over what the Japanese call the Senkaku Islands and the Chinese call Diaoyu. China recently asserted its dominance by sending government ships into Japanese territorial waters.
Qi said China was only safeguarding its sovereignty in its dispute with Japan, where both claim ownership over the islands, and with other countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea.
The general repeated China‘s stance that it wanted to resolve the disputes through bilateral negotiations. Some of the countries want multilateral talks, feeling China’s size is too much of an advantage in direct talks.
He also repeated China‘s stance on North Korea, where the U.S. is seeking Chinese assistance in resolving problems with Pyongyang, which has raised tensions with a series of rocket launches, an underground nuclear test and threats of nuclear strikes against the U.S. and its allies.
Qi said China wants the tension on the Korean Peninsula to be reduced through talks, and that Beijing backs the denuclearization of the peninsula.
By Ruchi Singh
