SINGAPORE, June 4 -- The 16th Shangri-La Dialogue concluded here on Sunday, and during the three-day forum, the Chinese delegation reaffirmed China's stances on multiple issues and successfully made China's voice heard.
The issues include U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, navigation in the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, the international and regional rules, among others.
Lt. Gen. He Lei, vice president of the Academy of Military Science of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) said Saturday here at a press briefing that the Chinese government and Chinese people strongly oppose U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
He Lei, who led a PLA delegation to the dialogue, said, "On the Taiwan issue, one should not just mention the Taiwan Relations Act, the three China-U.S. joint communiques should also be mentioned, thus giving a full picture of the issue."
The three joint communiques, namely the Shanghai Communique, the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and the August 17 communique, form the political foundation of the China-U.S. relations.
Regarding navigation in the South China Sea, the senior Chinese military official said, "I think freedom of navigation can't equate to close-in surveillance," highlighting that freedom of navigation has never been a problem in the South China Sea.
"China firmly opposes close-in surveillance conducted by military aircraft and vessels in the adjacent waters and airspace of the Chinese islands, and such military activities do not fall into the category of freedom of navigation," He Lei said.
On the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, He Lei attributed the root cause of the issue to the mutual strategic suspicion between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States.
He Lei said, "China has been making active efforts with regard to the issue which also involves China's interests," adding that China will continue to work with other regional countries in seeking solution to the issue.
The general also reiterated that China will continue to follow its three principles on the issue, namely sticking to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, sticking to peace and stability on the peninsula and sticking to peacefully resolving the issue.
On international and regional rules, the senior Chinese military official said China is both the defender and observer of these rules.
He Lei said, "It is well-known that the Charter of the United Nations is the most important international rule ... China is one of the initiating countries for drawing the charter and also one of the earliest signatories to the charter."
So far, China has signed more than 23,000 bilateral agreements and more than 400 multilateral agreements with related parties in the world, and China is also a member of all specialized agencies in the United Nations, which demonstrates that China is a country that abides by, supports and defends international and regional rules, He Lei said.
"International rules should be the rules that are accepted by most countries, or the ones that represent the interests of most countries in the world. As for regional rules, they should represent the interests of most countries in the region," he said.
He Lei noted that the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which was signed by China and ASEAN countries in 2002, and the framework of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, which was agreed on recently by China and ASEAN countries, represent regional rules.
The three-day dialogue, organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, gathered senior military officials, diplomats and experts from nearly 40 countries.