Asian nations should avoid military ties with third party powers, says China's Xi

China National News Wednesday 21st May, 2014

• Xi said: "Strengthening military alliances with a third party does not benefit the maintenance of regional security."

• CICA is a group of more than 20 mostly Asian nations from Turkey to South Korea that aims to improve cooperation on peace and security in the region

• The presence of a Chinese oil rig in South China Sea waters also claimed by Vietnam sparked a wave of anti-China protests across Vietnam

SHANGHAI - In what appeared to be a warning to some nations, China's President Xi Jinping called on Asian countries to avoid strengthening military alliances with "third party" powers and added that issues in the region should be resolved by Asians themselves.

He also pledged to peacefully resolve China's disputes over territory that has intensified in recent years, especially in the South and East China Seas.

"Strengthening military alliances with a third party does not benefit the maintenance of regional security," Xi said.

The Chinese president was speaking at a regional conference in Shanghai on Wednesday.

"Matters in Asia ultimately must be taken care of by Asians. Asia's problems ultimately must be resolved by Asians, and Asia's security ultimately must be protected by Asians," he said.

Xi said each country should play its part in preserving regional security.

"A country, in seeking to determine its own security, should not sacrifice that of other countries... no country should seek to monopolise regional security affairs and trample on the rights of others," he said.

He added that such a situation would do no good as "a Kazakh saying goes: Blowing out another's lamp will only burn one's beard".

U.S. President Barack Obama who visited Asia last month had sought to reassure allies like Japan and the Philippines of the US' Asia pivot a strategic shift towards Asia and the Pacific, widely seen as aimed at countering China's rising influence.

Xi said Asian countries should "proactively" seek to build an Asian security concept with a regional framework, in a speech to an audience including Russian President Vladimir Putin and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon at the fourth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA)

CICA is a group of more than 20 mostly Asian nations from Turkey to South Korea that aims to improve cooperation on peace and security in the region. Japan and the US are observers.

Xi proposed that Cica, which has 24 member nations, become a security dialogue platform, and that it establish a "defence consultation mechanism", with a response centre for emergencies.

The presence of a Chinese oil rig in South China Sea waters also claimed by Vietnam sparked a wave of anti-China protests across Vietnam earlier this month which left at least two Chinese workers dead and several factories burnt.

The Philippines is taking China to an international court over its South China Sea claims.

Xi sought to play down concerns about China's intentions.

"China stays committed to seeking peaceful settlement of disputes with other countries over territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," he said.

Xi said a zero-sum, "Cold War" concept of security where one country gains at the expense of others would not work.

"We cannot just have the security of one or some countries while leaving the rest insecure," Xi said, adding that one should not "seek the so-called absolute security of itself at the expense of the security of others".

"No country should attempt to dominate regional security affairs," he said.

Metallurgical Corp of China Ltd (MCC) said on Wednesday that four of its employees working on a construction project in Vietnam were killed and 126 injured during the anti-China protests last week.

The Chinese and Vietnamese governments had put the death toll at two with 100 or more injured.