July 23, 2012
AFP
Beijing will establish a military garrison on a group of disputed
islands in the South China Sea, China's defence ministry said Monday, a
move likely to provoke further tensions with its neighbours.
The
troops will operate from Sansha in the Paracel Islands, one of two
archipelagos in the South China Sea that are claimed by both China and
Vietnam.
The garrison, approved by the Central Military
Commission, "will be responsible for the Sansha area national defence
mobilisation and reserve forces activities", the defence ministry said
on its website.
The ministry did not say when the garrison would
be established, but the move to station troops on the Paracels is
likely to provoke Hanoi's ire.
Beijing's move last month to
designate Sansha as its administrative centre for the Paracels and the
Spratly Islands prompted a rare demonstration Sunday in the Vietnamese
capital against China's territorial assertions.
China and South
Vietnam once administered different parts of the Paracels but after a
brief conflict in 1974 Beijing took control of the entire group of
islands. Vietnam holds several of the larger Spratly Islands.
China says it owns much of the South China Sea, while the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia each claim portions.
Disputes have flared in recent weeks, with Vietnam and the Philippines criticising what they call Chinese encroachment.
In
June, the state-backed China National Offshore Oil Corporation
announced it was welcoming bids to explore oil blocks in the disputed
waters, a week after Vietnam adopted a law placing the Spratlys under
its sovereignty.
A July 13 meeting of the Association of
Southeast Nations broke up without a joint statement for the first time
in 45 years because members could not agree on how to refer to China's
behaviour in the disputed waters.
The countries are drafting a "code of conduct" to try to overcome the rift.
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