Issue: ‘US comments on S. China Sea’

July 25, Online: The Chinese foreign ministry on Sunday accused US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of an “attack” on China for her recent comments that competing claims over South China Sea island chains should be resolved without coercion or threat. Beijing has concerns about the Spratly and Paracel islands, but the situation in the disputed areas remained peaceful, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was cited as saying in a statement posted on the ministry website. “Is the expression of reasonable concern coercion? This is not tenable,” Yang was quoted as saying in response to Clinton’s comments last week at an ASEAN meeting in Vietnam. The statement called Clinton’s remarks an “attack”. Clinton had stressed that the US doesn’t support any country’s claim over the islands, but China maintains it has sovereignty in the South China Sea and insists on dealing with the dispute directly with other claimants away from the international arena. China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines claim all or part of the island chains. Along with rich fishing grounds, the area is believed to have large oil and natural gas reserves. It also straddles busy sea lanes that are a crucial conduit for oil and other resources fueling China’s fast-expanding economy.

Your comments:

China knew sneaky ways to bully small countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. China does not feel comfortable to hear the truth  such as Tibet. On Jan. 19, 1974, China used force to invade and take Hoang Sa (Paracel Island), it belongs to Vietnam.
China has claimed it since then. In 1979, China used 300,000 troops to invade Vietnam while Vietnam stopped Khmer Rouge, which was supported by China to create a killing field in Cambodia. In 1988, the China Navy invaded another time in Truong Sa (Spartly Island). Chinese shot unarmed Vietnamese at Truong Sa territory.
Lately, China uses its Navy to take innocent Vietnamese fishermen and their belongings such as boats, cell phones and equipment, and used it to violate China’s water, which did not belong to China. It belongs to Vietnam.
China is greedy for power over the sea and oil. China forgot its own history that made China collapse, and how many times the Vietnamese people struggled against China for independence.
If China wants world power and respect, China must stop pirate strategies. Do not bully and invade the others. What countries in the world will trust China? As Vietnamese I can be frank with you (China) but don’t invade our land or sea.
Hien
United States

This is one of the lessons in being a big kid on the block that China needs to learn. China’s aggressiveness and feigned indignity is an old game that it shouldn’t play anymore. It may have been alright when it didn’t pose as much a threat, but now all its neighbors are a bit more nervous.
Bilateral talks are nonsense in this case. The South China Sea issue needs to be addressed by all the countries. China would be doing itself a big favor if it approached multi-lateral talks seriously and earnestly but more likely than not it’ll approach it like a petulant child. China needs to assuage the fears that a lot of countries in the region have not stoked them. This is an opportunity for China to show that it can be a good neighbor and negotiate in good faith.
Do more research and get your facts straight people. Paracels and Spartlys were never part of China until they claimed them as their “core interests” in March of this year. China came in contact with these rocks around 10 century AD....These rocks belonged to the Champa and Khmer empires a thousand years before it.
The Champa empire is now Vietnam, and the Khmer empire is now Cambodia. Please don’t tell me a bed time story and sing poetry into my ears that somehow these island rocks belong to you (the Chineses).
Temujin
the US

Don’t you hate it when the US gets involved in “our internal affairs” such as Tibet, Taiwan, and now those islands that they say belong to other countries. That messes up our entire strategy of taking over the world! We will have to spend more money bribing (negotiating with) officials who have a say-so over those islands.
Yes, we know who we have to bribe (oops, I mean “use soft power with”), but now with the US involved, the job just gets that much harder. Those Americans don’t just take our money and shut up. No way! They want what’s fair and they really hate it when we Chinese just bully who we want and get what we want.
Sometimes though, I feel a little guilty. I mean, yes, a “few” Tibetans were killed, and so were “some” Uighurs, and the Dalai Lama is actually not a bad guy after all — but that’s all stuff we can’t admit publicly.
Anyway, back to those islands in the South China Sea (or the Pacific Ocean for that matter) — yes, we have ancient poetry that says “The Middle Kingdom [that’s us] owns all islands within a three days journey”. That says it all. Our poets do not lie. You lie America!
Marisa
the US

Every one got their own version what went on. It is too bad countries can not work together to solve their differences without using force. History is in the past. There were some very ugly things happened in the past. Let work together for the future, let the past die.
Ben Gee
Canada