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JAKARTA: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo renewed the Trump administration’s rhetorical attack on China in Indonesia on Thursday (October 29) as the US presidential election looms.
With China at the center of President Donald Trump’s campaign to win a second term in just five days, Pompeo took aim at Chinese aggressiveness in the South China Sea, where he has promoted maritime and territorial claims over the objections of his smaller neighbors. . and on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking in Jakarta, the headquarters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Pompeo praised Indonesia’s leadership in ASEAN for rejecting what he called China’s “illegal” claims and praised Jakarta’s protection of its own territory.
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“We respect the freedom of the seas, sovereignty and the rule of law,” he said, standing next to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. Marsudi agreed, saying that “international law must be respected,” although he did not specifically mention China.
“Our law-abiding nations reject the illegal claims of the Chinese Communist Party in the South China Sea, as evidenced by Indonesia’s courageous leadership on this issue in ASEAN and at the United Nations,” Pompeo said. “It is a cause worth pursuing in multilateral settings and the Trump administration is very supportive of this.”
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Earlier this year, the Trump administration clarified its long-standing policy on the disputes by outright rejecting nearly all of Beijing’s maritime claims in the South China Sea.
That decision in July came as Trump began a concerted effort to use China as a campaign club against his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, whom he portrays as weak to and indebted to China.
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Previously, the policy of the United States had been to insist that maritime disputes between China and its smaller neighbors be resolved peacefully through UN-backed arbitration. But in a July 13 statement, Pompeo said the United States now considers virtually all Chinese maritime claims outside of its internationally recognized waters to be illegitimate.
China has forged ahead with attempts to enforce its disputed claims in the South China Sea, leading to serious disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia in recent years. It has ignored arbitration rulings that disputes must be negotiated.
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In making the US announcement, Pompeo said that China cannot legally claim the James Shoal near Malaysia, the waters surrounding the Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, the Luconia Shoals near Brunei or Natuna Besar off Indonesia. On Thursday, Pompeo said Indonesia’s protection of Natuna Besar was commendable.
Pompeo came to Indonesia from the Maldives, where he announced that the United States would open an embassy in the Indian Ocean archipelago for the first time, a move that reflects growing US concern over growing Chinese influence in the region.
“The Chinese Communist Party continues its illegal and threatening behavior,” Pompeo said in Male, a few hours after accusing China of being a “predator” during his previous stop in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital.
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“The Chinese Communist Party is a predator,” he said.
In response to Pompeo’s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the secretary of state’s true intention was to “let China revert to an era of poverty and underdevelopment, and let the world fall. in the abyss of confrontation and division. “
“This is just the biggest threat facing the world today. But sadly, Pompeo was born at the wrong time. The trend of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit in this era is irresistible, ”Wang told reporters.
