China has denied reports that it plans to use unmanned drones to conduct marine surveillance of Ieodo and clarified that it has no intention to lay claim to the submerged rock in waters off South Korea's southern coast, diplomatic sources in Seoul said Wednesday.
Quoting an official at the Chinese State Oceanic Administration, some Chinese newspapers reported last month that Beijing plans to use unmanned aircraft by 2015 to monitor uninhabited islands or islets claimed by it and other neighboring countries such as Japan and the Philippines. The reports said Ieodo, controlled by South Korea, would also be among them.
The reports sparked concerns in South Korea that the Chinese plan may be intended to lay jurisdiction over Ieodo.
In response to Seoul's query, China has recently clarified that those reports do not represent its official position and reflect only "a personal opinion" of the official quoted, the sources said.
The Chinese official just "mentioned the extent of the surveillance organization's work from a technical aspect," the Beijing government said in its reply to Seoul, according to the sources.
China emphasized in its reply that Ieodo should not be a subject of territorial dispute between the two countries, the sources said.
South Korea, therefore, will not lodge a formal protest against the purpoted Chinese plan, a South Korean foreign ministry official told Yonhap News Aency.
"It would be difficult for the government to lodge a protest through formal diplomatic channel since the plan can't be seen as intended to lay jurisdictional claim to Ieodo," the official said, requesting that he not to be named. (Yonhap)