China Says Policy Change on South China Sea Would 'Shame' Country

The Chinese government has reiterated in some of its strongest language yet that it will not back down from its controversial claims in the contested South China Sea.

Reuters reports that the country's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that not standing strongly by its claims would bring shame to both the country's predecessors and grandchildren. Yi said that 1,000 years ago China was a large maritime sea, and "of course," was the first to discover and administer the Spratly Islands, which are claimed by a number of states in the region including Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan.

These countries have recently signed agreements on equipment and technology exchanges in order to build up their civilian and military maritime capabilities as China has been building islands and military structures on the Spratly Islands. Vietnam and the Philippines, who have themselves fought over the islands, recently hosted a soccer game where members of each nation's Navy partied and sang karaoke.

The waters surrounding the islands are rich in fish stocks, and possibly even natural gas. China has made the security of energy supplies a primary focus of its domestic and foreign policy, which helps to explain China's adamant position on the issue in addition to the historical aspect. The dispute also has wide ranging implications for the global economy, as $5 trillion worth of global trade transits in the vicinity of the islands, according to Reuters.

Wang also bolstered his claim by saying that in World War II, the United States ferried Chinese soldiers to the islands in order to take them back from the Japanese, whose wartime empire expanded throughout the Pacific Ocean.

He also described China as "victim" saying that the other countries with claims to the islands only became interested after the discovery of oil there in the 1960s.