The Trump administration on Monday rejected almost all of China’s claims in the South China Sea, entering one of Asia’s most delicate regional problems and further increasing tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The administration presented the decision as an attempt to curb China’s growing assertiveness in the region with a commitment to recognize international law. But it will almost certainly have the most immediate effect of further angering the Chinese, who are already retaliating against numerous US sanctions and other sanctions on other issues.
It also occurs when President Trump has come under fire for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, escalated criticism of China ahead of the 2020 election, and tried to paint his long-awaited Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, as weak in China .
“Today we are strengthening American policy in a vital and contentious part of that region: the South China Sea,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a press release. “We are making it clear: Beijing’s claims about offshore resources in most of the South China Sea are completely illegal, as is its intimidation campaign to control them.”
Pompeo added: “Beijing uses intimidation to undermine the sovereign rights of Southeast Asian coastal states in the South China Sea, intimidate them with extraterritorial resources, assert unilateral dominance, and replace international law with ‘power does justice.'”
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Previously, US policy had been to insist that maritime disputes between China and its smaller neighbors be resolved peacefully through UN-backed arbitration. But in a statement released Monday, Pompeo said the United States regards virtually all Chinese maritime claims outside its internationally recognized waters as illegitimate. The change does not involve disputes over land characteristics that are above sea level, which are considered “territorial” in nature.
Although the US will remain neutral in territorial disputes, the announcement means that the administration is on the side of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, all of whom oppose Chinese claims of sovereignty over the surrounding maritime areas. islands, reefs and disputed islands. shoal
“There are clear cases where [China] it is claiming sovereignty over areas that no country can legally claim, ”the State Department said in a fact sheet accompanying the statement.
The announcement was released a day after the fourth anniversary of a binding decision by an arbitration panel in favor of the Philippines that rejected China’s maritime claims around the Spratly Islands and neighboring reefs and sandbanks.
China has refused to acknowledge that decision, which it has dismissed as a “sham”, and has refused to participate in the arbitration proceedings. It has continued to challenge the decision with aggressive actions that have led to territorial disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia in recent years.
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As a result, however, the administration says China has no valid maritime claims for the potentially fish-rich and potentially energy-rich Scarborough, Mischief Reef or Second Thomas Shoal reefs. The United States has repeatedly said that areas considered to be part of the Philippines are covered by a mutual defense treaty between the United States and the Philippines in the event of an attack on them.
In addition to reiterating support for that decision, Pompeo said China cannot legally claim the James Shoal near Malaysia, the waters surrounding the Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, the Luconia Shoals near Brunei and Natuna Besar off Indonesia. As such, it says the US will consider any Chinese harassment of fishing vessels or oil exploration in those areas illegal.
The announcement came amid intense tensions between the US and China on numerous issues, including the coronavirus pandemic, human rights, Chinese politics in Hong Kong and Tibet, and trade, which have caused the fall of relationships in recent months.
But the practical impact was not immediately clear. The United States is not a party to the United Nations Law of the Sea treaty that establishes a mechanism for dispute resolution. Despite that, the State Department noted that China and its neighbors, including the Philippines, are parties to the treaty and must abide by the decision.
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China has attempted to shore up its claim to the sea by building military bases on coral atolls, leading the United States to navigate its warships through the region on what it calls freedom of operation missions. The United States has no right to water, but it has deployed warships and planes for decades to patrol and promote freedom of navigation and overflight on the busy waterway.
Last week, China furiously complained about the United States flexing its military force in the South China Sea by conducting joint exercises with two groups of US aircraft carriers on the strategic waterway. The Navy said that the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, together with their accompanying ships and aircraft, conducted exercises “designed to maximize air defense capabilities and extend the range of long-range precision sea attacks from aircraft based on aircraft carriers in a rapidly evolving area of operations. “
China claims almost the entire South China Sea and routinely opposes any action by the US military in the region. Five other governments claim all or part of the sea, through which approximately $ 5 billion in goods are shipped each year.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
