U.S. rejects China's claims in South China Sea, adding to tensions
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[July 14, 2020]
By Humeyra Pamuk, Arshad Mohammed and Yew Lun Tian
WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - The United
States on Monday rejected China's claims to offshore resources in most
of the South China Sea, drawing criticism from China which said the U.S.
position raised tension in the region, highlighting an increasingly
testy relationship.
China has offered no coherent legal basis for its ambitions in the South
China Sea and for years has been using intimidation against other
Southeast Asian coastal states, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said
in a statement.
"We are making clear: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most
of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of
bullying to control them," said Pompeo, a prominent China hawk within
the Trump administration.
The United States has long opposed China's expansive territorial claims
on the South China Sea, sending warships regularly through the strategic
waterway to demonstrate freedom of navigation there. Monday's comments
reflect a harsher tone.
"The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its
maritime empire," Pompeo said.
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The U.S. statement supports a ruling four years ago under the UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that invalidated most of
China's claims for maritime rights in the South China Sea.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian condemned the U.S.
rejection of China's claim.
"It intentionally stirs up controversy over maritime sovereignty claims,
destroys regional peace and stability and is an irresponsible act," he
said at a regular briefing.
"The U.S. has repeatedly sent large fleets of sophisticated military
planes and ships to the South China Sea ... The U.S. is the troublemaker
and destroyer of regional peace and stability."
China claims 90% of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, but
Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to
parts of it.
About $3 trillion worth of trade passes through the waterway each year.
China has built bases atop atolls in the region but says its intentions
are peaceful.
MORE CONFIDENT?
Analysts said it would be important to see if other countries adopted
the U.S. stance and what, if anything, Washington might do to reinforce
its position and prevent Beijing from creating "facts on the water" to
buttress its claims.
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![](../images/071420PICS/news_p31.jpg)
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz receives fuel from the
Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler USNS Tippecanoe
during an underway replenishment in the South China Sea July 7,
2020. U.S. Navy/Christopher Bosch/Handout via REUTERS
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"The Southeast Asian claimants, especially Vietnam, will feel more
confident in asserting their jurisdictional rights under UNCLOS,"
said Ian Storey, senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in
Singapore.
The Philippines strongly supported a rules-based order in the South
China Sea and urged China to comply with the four-year-old
arbitration ruling, its defense minister, Delfin Lorenzana, said.
Taiwan welcomed the U.S. statement.
"Our country opposes any attempt by a claimant state to use
intimidation, coercion, or force to resolve disputes," Taiwan
foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told reporters.
The relationship between the United States and China has grown
increasingly tense recently over various issues including China's
handling of the novel coronavirus and its tightened grip on Hong
Kong.
China routinely outlines the scope of its claims in the South China
Sea with reference to a so-called nine-dash line on its maps that
encompasses about nine-tenths of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer
waters.
"This is basically the first time we have called it illegitimate,"
Chris Johnson, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, said of Pompeo's statement.
"It's fine to put out a statement, but what you going to do about
it?"
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Arshad Mohammed, Matt Spetalnick,
Daphne Psaledakis. Additional reporting by Yew Lun Tian in Beijing,
Ben Blanchard in Taipei, and Karen Lema in Manila; Editing by Leslie
Adler and Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel)
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