Xiao Jie, 51, will holds dual role of mayor and secretary of the Communist Party. The city is an outpost set up by China for the control of two million square kilometers of sea. In his first speech, he emphasizes that his job represents "a mission, a challenge and a test." The protests in Manila and Hanoi.

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - As mayor he is called upon to administer a territory of 13 sq km, but his most important task is to defend "the national interests and sovereignty" of China over two million square kilometers of waters that surround the tiny island. 51 year old Xiao Jie, newly elected mayor of Sansha, a town of the island of Woody (in the Paracels) formed last June by Beijing to control the South China Sea, is considered a man capable of combining  "respect for the environmental ecosystem" with "development needs". For the People's Daily, a newspaper close to the Communist Party, his priorities will be the "defense of interests" in the region, with the development of tourism and agriculture a "secondary" task.

Xiao Jie was born in Leizhou, Guangdong Province, and has spent over 30 years in Hainan. He studied at the local university, where in 1982 he served as a teacher. Two years later he joined the party and began his public career, which brought him to Beijing for political education sessions. He then returned to Hainan, where he recently directed the Department of Agriculture. During his first address to the People's Congress, the new mayor and new Secretary of the Communist Party (an unusual dual role, in China) for the city of a thousand inhabitants, mostly fishermen and government officials, said it was "a great honor to be the first mayor of Sansha. " The territory has an enormous strategic importance for Beijing and the office, said Xia Jie, represents "a new mission, a challenge and a test."

Meanwhile, Vietnam and the Philippines continue efforts to counter Beijing's "imperialist" moves in the South China Sea. Manila has refused to recognize the authority of Sansha, while according to  Hanoi, China has violated international law. Recently, the two governments have sought allies within ASEAN (Association which brings together 10 nations of Southeast Asia) to repel the Chinese expansionism, but the last rally of the organism in Cambodia ended in stalemate Indeed, with member states unable to even draw up a joint motion against Beijing. The opposition of the host government was decisive, with Phnom Penh weighing its close economic ties with China. (See AsiaNews14/07/2012 South China Sea dispute leaves ASEAN speechless).

The archipelago in the South China Sea, potentially rich in undersea oil fields, is disputed by China, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan, Philippines and Malaysia and various attempts to take possession of one or other of the atolls has produced friction between the various countries. Philippines and Vietnam accuse Beijing of being aggressive in claiming sovereignty over the archipelago (see AsiaNews 04/07/2012 As China's foreign policy hardens, it is Beijing versus all). In recent weeks there have been clashes between Filipino, Vietnamese and Chinese vessels.

The hegemonic ambitions of China also worry the United States which has increased its naval presence in the Pacific. According to experts the International Crisis Group (ICG), an organization based in Brussels, the prospects for settlement of disputes "are declining" and although a war is "unlikely", all signals "are going in the wrong direction."

 

• china
• vietnam
• philippines
• south
• china
• sea
• tension
• parcel
• islands