20140521a

Date: 21 May, 2014

Subject: SCMP: Xi to reveal foreign policy plans at security summit after naval drills with Putin

South China Morning Post
Xi to reveal foreign policy plans at security summit after naval drills with Putin
Leaders defy mounting pressure by opposing international interference and launch joint naval exercises, but fail to sign gas supply deal
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 20 May, 2014, 11:29pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 21 May, 2014, 1:04pm
Teddy Ng in Shanghai

and Agence France-Presse
Chinese President Xi Jinping will present his vision of foreign policy as Shanghai hosts a China hosted a little-known Asian regional forum on security today, with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in attendance.
Xi will outline his vision at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), a relatively obscure forum which exists alongside other stronger regional groupings. This comes a year into his term, which has seen Beijing look to assert its interests in both continental Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
Through the forum, Beijing is keen to raise the event’s profile and show willingness to work with neighbours, despite recent disputes over maritime territory.
Apart from Putin, the presidents attending include Hassan Rouhani of Iran and Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai.
“Everyone is a bit surprised it’s being made such a big deal. It seems principally driven by the Chinese who are very keen for it to be a big event,” said Raffaello Pantucci, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.
“It’s more about China trying to build their regional relationships,” he said.
But China has alienated some of its Asian neighbours, even while seeking to counter the US “pivot” to the region. Relations between China and Vietnam have worsened after Beijing’s move earlier this month to send a deep-water oil drilling rig into contested waters in the South China Sea, sparking violent Vietnamese protests in which two Chinese were killed.
Meanwhile, the visiting Russian president is facing a barrage of criticisms from the United States and the European Union for his actions in the Ukraine, and has been under heavy pressure under Western sanctions.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in China to attend the CICA meeting, said countries should seek to avoid conflict.
“There [are] many issues: historical legacy issues, territorial issues, maritime disputes,” he told Xinhua in an interview published Tuesday.
“The main agenda of this CICA summit is to promote some preventive actions, avoiding unnecessary conflict."
Xi and Putin had presented a united front at a meeting in Shanghai as they faced mounting pressure over their handling of conflicts.
The two leaders vowed in a joint declaration to oppose interference in the domestic affairs of other countries and came out against unilateral sanctions - a remark widely seen as targeting the United States.
They also pledged to counter attempts to "falsify the history" of the second world war.
And in a further show of unity, they launched joint naval exercises around the sensitive East China Sea, where China and Japan are involved in a dispute over territorial sovereignty.
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Shanghai. Photo: Xinhua
China and Japan have a long-running feud over disputed islands in the East China Sea, while the Philippines accuses China of reclaiming land on a disputed reef within its exclusive economic zone under a UN convention.
Vietnam belongs to the forum, but Japan is only an observer while the Philippines is not a member. The United States also has observer status, preferring to work through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Southeast Asian leaders earlier this month expressed “serious concern” over worsening territorial disputes in the South China Sea, presenting a rare united front against Beijing.
The 10-nation Asean called for a peaceful resolution to the maritime rows after a summit.
China and Russia's joint naval exercises were conducted off Shanghai yesterday, with Xi launching the drills at a ceremony in a room lined with officers of both navies in white dress uniform, as Putin looking on, state broadcaster CCTV showed.
Beijing says a combined 14 surface ships from both countries will take part in the week-long drills in the East China Sea which are aimed at a “maritime threat” and include live-fire exercises.
The exercises show “the unshakable determination and will of China and Russia to together face new threats and challenges to protect regional security and stability”, Xi was quoted as saying by the government-backed China News Service.
Putin said he hoped “the two militaries can strengthen cooperation under the new situation”, it added.
It is the third time in as many years that the two countries have held naval exercises near China’s coast, according to state media.
“The Chinese are much more agitated about what happens on the sea and one sees support there from Russia,” said Raffaello Pantucci, senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. “The Russians want support on the international stage to grandstand."
Relations between China and Vietnam have worsened after Beijing’s move earlier this month to send a deep-water oil drilling rig into contested waters in the South China Sea, sparking violent Vietnamese protests in which two Chinese were killed.
China and Japan have a long-running feud over disputed islands in the East China Sea, while the Philippines accuses China of reclaiming land on a disputed reef within its exclusive economic zone under a UN convention.
Meanwhile, Xi described the declaration and the other cooperation documents signed as carrying "heavy weight", even though a massive natural gas supply deal could not be signed.
"Further facilitating the China-Russia all-round strategic partnership of cooperation based on common interests is a requirement for promoting international fairness and justice," Xi said.
"I am convinced that the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership will keep growing," Putin was quoted as saying by Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.
The talks on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia were overshadowed by conflicts facing the nations.
China is involved in territorial disputes with its neighbours, while Russia is under pressure from sanctions after annexing Crimea from Ukraine.
Both accuse the US of manipulating the regional and domestic affairs of other nations.
Li Lifan, an expert in Russian affairs at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said: "The suspicions towards the US have pushed China and Russia to move closer, forming a 'sub-alliance' relationship that see both sharing a common stance."
But the relationship was not confined by any treaty similar to the one that pledges US security support to Japan because China sticks to a non-alignment foreign policy doctrine, Li said.
On Ukraine, the two nations called for political dialogue to ease tensions.
The two nations would establish a "comprehensive energy cooperation partnership", but failed to sign the deal for Russia to supply 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas to China annually.
Reports suggested Russian gas giant Gazprom's average price in Europe was US$380.5 per 1,000 cubic metres, but China wants a lower price as it has secured natural gas supplies from Central Asian nations.
The pledge of closer relations between Beijing and Moscow has triggered concerns about ties between China, Russia, Germany and Japan.
Germany is China's major trade partner, but is at odds with Russia over Ukraine, while Japan is one of Russia's main investors.
But observers insisted any impact would not last long.
* Additional reporting by Reuters and AFP
* This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Xi puts on a show of solidarity with Putin

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