BEIJING — A day after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer vowed that the United
States would stand up to China's military expansion in the South China Sea, officials
here are firing back.
"There might be
a difference" of opinion regarding who has sovereignty over the islands in
the South China Sea, "but that's not for the
United States" to get involved in, Lu Kang, a senior official with the
Chinese foreign ministry, told NBC News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
In other words, he was
suggesting the U.S. should butt out of China's
relationship with its neighbors.
But the new Trump administration
has made it clear it has no intention of doing so.
Rex Tillerson, Trump's
pick for secretary of state who is widely expected to receive full Senate backing,
said during his confirmation hearing that the U.S. would block China's access to
the disputed Asian islands.
"We're going to
have to send China a clear signal that, first, the
island-building stops and, second, your
access to those islands also is not going to be allowed," Tillerson
said.
Chinese newspapers responded
furiously.
"China has enough
determination and strength to make sure that his rabble rousing will not succeed. Unless Washington
plans to wage a large-scale war in the South China Sea, any other approaches
to prevent Chinese access to the islands will be foolish," wrote the state-run
Global Times.
China is carrying out
construction to fortify islands in the South China Sea in order to expand military
bases there. China sees this expansion as its legal right and a vital way to protect
one of the country's main shipping lanes.
U.S. officials have described the island building project as an attempt by
China to assert military dominance over the region.
"That's not international territory, that's Chinese
territory," Lu said, insisting that
China has every right to build whatever it wants on the islands.
As the Trump administration
moves quickly to make good on its campaign promises, China appears to be putting
down markers and drawing foreign policy red lines not to be crossed.
China
had previously avoided responding to many of Trump's campaign speeches and
tweets in which he repeatedly
accused China of predatory business practices toward the United States. Trump told a rally last May, "We can't continue
to allow China to rape our country,"
But the government here clearly now wants to respond, and to do so with carefully
crafted diplomatic language. Lu, who is the
spokesperson and director-general for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' department
of information, spoke to NBC News at the foreign ministry headquarters in central
Beijing and agreed to answer questions, in English,
on a wide range of issues. Ordinarily, Chinese government officials refrain from
granting such interviews to American reporters, preferring instead to read
carefully prepared statements in Chinese.
Lu was especially emphatic
about President Trump's position on Taiwan.
"This issue touches
upon China's core interests. By no means
is this something that can be negotiated, or [used] as a bargaining chip,"
Lu said.
Before his inauguration,
Trump broke with years of American protocol by receiving a phone call from the Taiwanese
leader. For the Chinese, any recognition
of Taiwanese independence is considered a break
of its so-called "One China Policy" and is taken as a diplomatic affront.
Ever since president
Nixon opened up China, the U.S. has avoided revisiting this delicate issue. But Trump has hinted that America's stance might
be renegotiated, telling
the Wall Street Journal in an interview published January 13 that "everything is under negotiation, including One China."
Not a chance, Lu told
NBC News, echoing a statement he issued earlier this month in response to Trump's
declaration. "That's not [up] for negotiation,"
he said.
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