{"id":32580,"date":"2014-11-23T03:40:42","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T19:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=32580"},"modified":"2014-11-22T23:02:03","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T15:02:03","slug":"chinese-defence-minister-pledges-more-dialogue-to-manage-territorial-conflicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/23\/chinese-defence-minister-pledges-more-dialogue-to-manage-territorial-conflicts\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese defence minister pledges more dialogue to manage territorial conflicts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"China's<\/a>
China’s Minister of National Defense Gen. Chang Wanquan. Chuck Hagel<\/a> \/ Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BEIJING\u2014China\u2019s defence minister said Friday he wants to enhance dialogue to manage disputes with his country\u2019s neighbours, sounding a conciliatory note after years of sharpened confrontations over territorial claims on land and sea.<\/p>\n

Chang Wanquan said in a speech to a security forum in Beijing that China is considering opening defence hotlines with its Southeast Asian neighbours. Four of them, including Vietnam and the Philippines, are involved in disputes with Beijing over territory in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s dispatch of ships and planes to assert those claims has significantly raised regional tensions over the past year, especially this summer when Chinese and Vietnamese boats sparred over the towing of a Chinese drilling platform into disputed waters. Beijing is also at odds with Japan and India over territory, but has lately worked to reduce friction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key is to strengthen management and effectively prevent and resolve crises,\u201d Chang told participants at the fifth Xiangshan Forum.<\/p>\n

China raised the forum\u2019s profile this year by inviting international media and high-level guests. Beijing also is in the middle of a diplomatic push to expand its \u201csoft power\u201d overseas, hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering and sending President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiaing on high-profile visits abroad.<\/p>\n

The moves are in part to assuage suspicions about China\u2019s fast-growing and traditionally secretive military, which is now adding nuclear-powered submarines, stealth fighters and aircraft carriers. The People\u2019s Liberation Army is already the world\u2019s largest standing military with 2.3 million members.<\/p>\n

Chang said China\u2019s booming defence budgets are aimed at modernizing and better co-operating with other countries on natural disasters and terrorism.<\/p>\n

The forum\u2019s more than 200 participants came from four dozen countries, ranging from Australia to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Former PLA head of foreign affairs Qian Lihua said China is working to ease tensions with Japan, India, Vietnam and other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will take time, but we\u2019re working toward building trust between all the countries in Asia,\u201d Qian told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIJING\u2014China\u2019s defence minister said Friday he wants to enhance dialogue to manage disputes with his country\u2019s neighbours, sounding a conciliatory …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":32581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-w","mauthors-christopher-bodeen","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}