Hegemonism Is of No Help Settling Plane Collision Incident, Chinese ExpertsChinese experts on international law and international relations said Thursday that the self-contradictory arrogant attitudes of the United States on the plane collision incident will prevent a settlement from being reached.Representatives from the Chinese and US governments started negotiations Wednesday afternoon in Beijing on the plane collision incident on April 1, in which a US military reconnaissance plane rammed into and destroyed a Chinese jet fighter, and other related issues. In an exclusive interview by Xinhua, Zhu Xiaoqing, a research professor with the Institute of Law Science of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said that the US side could hardly find any support from international law for their current explanation for the collision and following intrusion. "On the incident, the United States fully demonstrated its hegemonism and the Cold War thinking," Zhu said. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, when flying over an exclusive economic zone of a particular country, the plane must not carry out activities which would endanger the country's security and national interests. "The US military plane seriously overstepped the flying freedom as provided by international law," the law professor said. Therefore, China has the jurisdiction to investigate and settle the incident and related issues, she said. Niu Jun, a research professor at the CASS Institute of American Studies, said that the subsequent thinking of some US politicians obviously reflects their selfishness, which shows nothing about other countries' interests and other people's lives. "If it becomes a tradition in the future, we might doubt whether the U.S. government is a responsible one," said Niu. The U.S. new government also vowed to pursue the National Missile Defense (NMD) system regardless of global opposition, even from its allies. It also announced all of a sudden to stop the dialogues with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The U.S. also refused to perform its commitment as agreed in Ignoring a multinational engagement, the United States even withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. "Could such a government win trust from global people?" Niu said. Zhou Zhonghai, vice president of the Chinese Society of International Law, said that if the United States persists in its old ways of implementing military strategies in the Asian Pacific Region, the stability and security in this area might be endangered. "The US administration should be aware of the importance of Sino-US relations and help secure the relations together with the Chinese side," said Zhou, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law. |
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