Japan urges China to act peacefully and responsibly amid growing Chinese maritime ambitions; Taiwan plans to buy two warships from the U.S. as part of an effort to modernize its naval force
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    • (NOVEMBER 5-11)
    According to reports, Japan called on China on November 8 to use its sea power peacefully and responsibly amid China’s growing maritime ambitions. Naoko Saiki, deputy press secretary at the foreign ministry, told reporters in Tokyo, “It is not surprising to hear leaders in (China) speak about their intention to engage in maritime activities.” “But those activities must be carried out in a peaceful manner based on international law.” The comments came hours after President Hu Jintao told the five-yearly Communist Party congress that Beijing should “resolutely safeguard China’s maritime rights and interests, and build China into a maritime power.” China and Japan are at loggerheads over the sovereignty of an uninhabited archipelago in the East China Sea. 1
    In another development, according to reports, Taiwan plans to buy two warships from the U.S. as part of an effort to modernize its naval force amid a perceived military threat from China, notwithstanding improved relations between the two countries since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party became president in 2008. Taiwanese Defence Minister Kao Hua-chu said on November 5 that the two Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, now serving in the U.S. Navy, will be delivered to Taiwan by 2015. “The Defence Ministry has decided to take the two Perry-class frigates. It is a good bargain,” Kao added. The two warships, estimated to cost a total of about 7 billion Taiwanese dollars ($240 million), will replace two of eight aging Knox-class frigates that Taiwan acquired in the early 1990s, Kao said. 2

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