The New York Times.
BEIJING — The Central Military Commission, China’s
most powerful military body, has approved the deployment of a garrison
of soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army to guard disputed islands
claimed by China and Vietnam in the South China Sea, the state-run
Xinhua news agency said Sunday.
On Monday, there was a first
meeting of the 45 legislators elected over the weekend to govern the
1,100 people who live on the island groups of the Spratlys, the Paracels
and the Macclesfield Bank, Chinese authorities told state media. The
meeting was the latest escalation of the territorial dispute between
China and its neighbors over the island groups, known in Chinese as the
Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands.
The new legislators will not only govern the island groups, many of
which consist of rocks and atolls, but also about 772,000 square miles
of the South China Sea over which China claims jurisdiction, state media
said.
The troop deployment and elections appeared intended to reinforce
China’s claims over the South China Sea and its potential energy
resources. The moves came a week after a meeting of foreign ministers of
the Association of South East Asian Nations
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, at which China, according to diplomats at the
meeting, used its influence to stop even a rudimentary communiqué on the
South China Sea among the 10 nations.
Link.
