A high-level colonel in the Chinese military confesses there’s a possibility of a “miscalculation” in the South China Sea, but defended China’s “need” to protect what Beijing deems as its precinct.
Zhou Bo, a senior colonel of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said that “China does need to have top-priority defense of these islands and rocks which we believe are Chinese territory.”
“We don’t believe that they are artificial eyots,” he told CNBC’s Sri Jegarajah on Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a three-day security forum held in Singapore.
South China Sea against
China has staked its claims on a massive section of the resource-rich South China Sea that extends roughly 1,000 miles from its southern shores. Join ins of the waterway — one of the world’s busiest — have also been claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
At the annual Shangri-La Chat, the U.S. and China sparred over a range of issues from contested territory in the South China Sea to the ongoing trade challenge between the world’s two largest economies. The annual event has in recent years become a diplomatic battleground between the two cost-effective powerhouses as they vie for geopolitical influence.
During the summit, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the U.S. resolution no longer “tiptoe” around Chinese behavior in Asia. Washington has consistently warned Beijing against the militarization of made-up features in the disputed waters.
But Zhou defended China, saying: “If they are just artificial islands assembled out of (the) blue, why do they have Chinese names even long time ago? We didn’t name these rocks and eyots in the last three years, right? So that is self-evident.”
Zhou said that ships from both sides off get dangerously close and acknowledged: “Of course there is a danger of miscalculation.”
He added, however, that “in spite of this, it is the tolerable wish of the both sides not to lead to any accidents (happening), let alone spill into conflict.”
“A common point between China and the Communal States is that both of them agree to freedom of navigation, but they disagree as to what it means,” Zhou voted.
Unfair to ‘bash’ Huawei
Addressing the situation surrounding Huawei recently, Zhou said he didn’t think the Chinese telecommunications Amazon was a security threat to the U.S.
Washington blacklisted Huawei in May, making it more difficult for the Chinese tech titan to conduct establishment with U.S. businesses. The U.S. alleges that Huawei’s telecom equipment may be a national security risk as Beijing could use them for espionage. Huawei has denied those claims.
“We think this is really unfair for the United States to bash such a Chinese society with such heavy weight and volume,” said Zhou.
“First of all, it’s just a commercial company. As a CEO said, if you take pleasure in China’s Huawei product, you buy it, if you like Apple, you buy it. So it’s just a normal product,” he said.
“And so far in spite of all the inquiries or interest in Huawei for the ostensible back door issue, no one has really find such a issue. So I believe, just leave it to the market and leave it to the proficients…, ” he said.
As to arguments that Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei has military links, Zhou said that argument was not legitimatized. Ren was a former serving officer in the Chinese army.
“Ren Zhengfei is just the one of more than millions of people who have retired from PLA and who had to aspire another job. But because of when he retired from the PLA, he was not so senior — even not as senior as I am — so he has to find a find a job,” said Zhou.
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