Vietnam backs US role in South China Sea, rebukes Beijing

Southeast Asian countries want the United States to play a role in maintaining peace in the South China Sea, Vietnam said, rejecting Beijing’s comments that US forces were destabilizing the region.

“We welcome the constructive and responsive contributions of the United States to ASEAN’s efforts to maintain peace, stability and developments in the South China Sea,” Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh said Thursday. Minh, during a virtual summit between representatives of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asia. Nations and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. Vietnam holds the rotating presidency of the bloc.

Southeast Asian countries are open to opportunities for practical cooperation with the United States in the region, Minh said. Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia have been embroiled in territorial disputes with China that have affected their ability to extract fish, oil and gas from offshore areas.

At a virtual summit the day before, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Southeast Asian foreign ministers that the United States was intervening in territorial disputes and strengthening its military deployment in the disputed area “because of its own political ends. ” He called the United States “the biggest driver of the militarization of the South China Sea,” according to statements released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The United States has become “the most dangerous factor damaging peace in the South China Sea,” Wang said, reiterating China’s position that countries in the region should resolve disputes. “Peace and stability are China’s greatest strategic interest in the South China Sea, which are also the common aspiration of ASEAN countries,” he said.

Tensions in the South China Sea have risen in recent months as the US and China clash on everything from democracy in Hong Kong to data security on popular Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat. In July, the United States explicitly rejected China’s expansive maritime claims in the region for the first time and sent aircraft carriers into the waters for military exercises.

Last month, China launched missiles into the South China Sea, a move that underscored the mounting cost of any armed conflict in the region. The missiles showed China’s ability to attack US bases and carriers, the main sources of US power projection in the region.

In a separate meeting on Wednesday, Pompeo joined several ASEAN countries in expressing concern about China’s actions in the South China Sea, according to a statement from the State Department. He reiterated that the United States considered Beijing’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea illegal, according to a 2016 international court ruling that China considers illegitimate because it chose not to participate in dispute resolution provisions when it signed the Convention. of the United Nations on the Law of the United States. Sea.

“We express serious concern that ongoing developments on the ground, including serious incidents, continued militarization and activities that violate the legal rights of littoral countries, go against international law,” said Minh, the Vietnamese minister, citing the 1982 UN Convention for the Law of the Sea. “These have eroded trust, increased tensions and undermined peace, security and the rule of law in the region.”

On Wednesday, Wang rejected the idea of ​​China claiming all waters within the nine-line line as its territorial sea, calling it a “distortion” of China’s position. She insisted that China’s claim to the islands in the South China Sea has “abundant historical and legal basis.”

He also argued that Chinese construction on reefs and islets was intended to improve living conditions and provide “public good” for the region. “In the face of military pressure from a non-regional country, of course we have the right to protect our own sovereignty,” he said.

The United States said it also joined several countries in expressing concern over the imposition of comprehensive national security legislation in Hong Kong, the arrests of pro-democracy students, the postponement of elections for a year and the disqualification of candidates. elections in favor of democracy.

In response, Wang said that the East Asia Summit “had never been a place to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, and it should not become a stage to attack the political system of other countries.”

© 2020 Bloomberg LP