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CNN Live Saturday

U.S. Continues Military Presence in South China Sea

Aired April 07, 2001 - 13:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon says that the U.S. surveillance plane was on routine patrol over the South China Sea when it collided with a Chinese jet fighter.

CNN's senior Asian correspondent, Mike Chinoy, explains why it's important for the United States to monitor those troubled waters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIAN CORRESPONDENT: The ramshackle port of Sanya, the southernmost town on Hainan Island: Beyond these docks lies the South China Sea, site of critical international sea lanes, huge deposits of oil and natural gas, and potentially, a future military confrontation.

Across its hundreds of thousands of square miles are hundreds of reefs, rocks and tiny islands claimed by a half dozen Asian countries competing for resources and strategic advantage. But China's claim is the biggest, although recognized by no other nation, Beijing has declared an exclusive economic zone that stretches 200 miles from each point of land. And is building up its military might to back up that claim.

ALLEN CHENG, "ASIAWEEK": It's very important for China, that they have military influence in this area as they aspire economically -- the next step is to aspire militarily. They want to have the ability to project, and -- their naval forces as well as their air force.

CHINOY: That aspiration is one factor in last Sunday's collision. China's ever more aggressive challenges to U.S. surveillance are part of an effort to extend its reach over the South China Sea and push U.S. military operations further away, both from Chinese soil and the ocean China claims below, a move the U.S. is determined to resist.

CHENG: It's a huge source of ongoing confrontation, and the U.S. has strategic interests here in Asia, and it doesn't want to give way.

CHINOY: And not just economic interests. The U.S. military also uses the South China Sea as a key transit point and operating area, for ships and planes moving between American bases in Asia and the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. The spy plane standoff, which intense diplomatic efforts have yet to break, is thus about much more than the specifics of one incident. In many ways it's a battle over how the United States will deal the with the determination of a modernizing, increasingly proud China, to flex its muscles in a region it considers its own back yard.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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