China, US in bid to calm tensions – Personal data of Chinese elites purportedly leaked on Twitter
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BEIJING, May 13, (Agencies): Seeking to calm escalating tensions in the South China Sea, top generals from China and the US spoke by phone and said they were ready to work out an effective mechanism to prevent confrontation and maintain stability in the region. Chinese Chief of the General Staff Fang Fenghui told Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford in a video conference Thursday that China values freedom of navigation “more than any other country in the world,” according to a statement posted on the Defense Ministry’s website. While denying that Beijing was responsible for current tensions, Fang said China wanted to expand communication and cooperation with the US to prevent the issue impacting on the overall relationship. “The common ground and prospects for cooperation between China and the US far exceed our disagreements and contradictions,” Fang was quoted as saying. China wants to take the big picture of China-US relations as the basis for approaching the South China Sea issue, Fang said.
The conversation followed a sharp verbal exchange following a US destroyer’s sail-by past China’s largest man-made island in a move to exercise freedom of navigation. China said it deployed two navy fighter jets, one early warning aircraft and three ships to track and warn off the USS William P. Lawrence during as it sailed Wednesday within 12 nautical miles (22 kms) of Fiery Cross Reef, the limit of what international law regards as an island’s territorial sea. The reef — which used to be submerged at high tide for all but two rocks — is now an artificial island with a long airstrip, harbor and burgeoning above-ground infrastructure. It dwarfs all other features in the disputed area, was recently visited by China’s military No. 2 and became prominent in the Chinese media when a famous singer of patriotic anthems entertained troops there. China said such “provocative actions” justified it in boosting “all categories of military capacity building” on its island strongholds in the South China Sea.
Missions
In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Thursday that such “innocent passage” cruises were routine missions intended merely to reinforce the Navy’s determination to “fly, operate, and sail anywhere that international law allows.” “And we certainly do not want to see the tensions increase, because of the risk that that could pose to the extensive commerce that’s conducted in that region of the world,” Earnest said. China has sought to bolster its claim to almost the entire South China Sea by constructing new islands such as Fiery Cross Reef atop coral outcroppings, adding to them airstrips, harbors and military infrastructure. The US refuses to recognize the new features as enjoying the legal rights of naturally occurring islands, and while it takes no formal position on sovereignty claims, insists that all nations enjoy the right to freely sail and fly through the strategically vital area. Fang said China was not to blame for tensions with the United States in the South China Sea and urged the two sides “to bear the overall situation in mind and manage their differences in a constructive way”, Xinhua reported early on Friday.
Xinhua quoted Dunford as calling for restraint in the South China Sea, and saying the United States was willing to work with China to establish “an effective mechanism on risk control so as to maintain stability in the South China Sea by peaceful means”. The South China Sea was also discussed at a separate meeting between Sun Jianguo, an admiral and deputy chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, and Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, vice chief of the Australian Defence Force. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull backed the United States on Thursday in its latest South China Sea patrol. Australia has consistently supported US-led freedom of navigation activities there. China’s Defence Ministry said Sun told Griggs the South China Sea was not and should not become an issue between China and Australia, and that Australia should not do anything that “harms regional peace and stability or Sino-Australia ties”.
Meanwhile, Taiwan on Friday called on an international tribunal not to make a ruling on a disputed South China Sea island if the judges don’t visit first to see for themselves it can sustain life. Taiwan wants to prove Itu Aba is not just a rock, but a real island that can qualify for a maritime economic zone. China refuses to recognise a case lodged by the Philippines with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague over the South China Sea and says such disputes should be resolved through bilateral talks. The panel does not rule on sovereignty but it does outline a system of economic zones that can be claimed from features such as islands. “The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan’s formal name) once again solemnly invites the five arbitrators (in the Philippine case) to conduct a field study on Taiping Island,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “If the tribunal decides not to respond to our kind invitation, then it should not rule on the legal status of Taiping Island.” Last month, the panel allowed written evidence from a government-linked Taiwanese group pressing Taipei’s position that Itu Aba is not a rock and is entitled to part of the disputed waterway as an economic zone.
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The purported personal details of numerous Chinese business moguls and poltically-connected elite have been posted to an anonymous Twitter account, an embarrassing leak for authorities that has raised concerns about the security of official records. The data disclosure, including national identification numbers, birth dates and addresses, would be one of China’s highest profile such public leaks of sensitive data if accurate. Among those whose personal data was exposed were China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, the chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, and Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of the Chinese tech giant, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, both of whom are known to be politically well-connected. Reuters could not independently confirm the accuracy of the data exposed in a series of Twitter posts this week, published under the handle @ shenfenzheng, which means “identity card” in Chinese. However, Sima Nan, a television pundit and vocal backer of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, told Reuters that his personal identification number was revealed before the Twitter account became inaccessible.
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