WASHINGTON – The United States on Monday rejected China’s controversial claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, a move Beijing criticized for inciting tensions in the region and highlighting an increasingly irritable relationship.
China has failed to offer a coherent legal basis for its ambitions in the South China Sea and for years has been using intimidation against other coastal states in Southeast Asia, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
“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,” said Pompeo, a prominent Chinese hawk within the Trump administration.
The United States has long opposed China’s expansive territorial claims to the South China Sea, regularly dispatching warships via the strategic waterway to demonstrate freedom of navigation there. Monday’s comments reflect a more severe tone.
“The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire,” said Pompeo.
The Chinese embassy in the United States said in a statement dated Tuesday that Washington’s accusation is “completely unwarranted.”
“Under the pretext of preserving stability (the United States) is flexing muscles, causing tension and inciting confrontation in the region,” he said.
Regional analysts said it would be vital to see if other nations adopt the United States’ stance and what Washington could do to strengthen its position and prevent Beijing from creating “water facts” to back up its claims.
The relationship between the United States and China has become increasingly strained in the past six months over Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, its increased control over Hong Kong, and its crackdown on China’s Uighur Muslim community.
China claims 90% of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim parts of it, through which about $ 3 trillion of trade passes each year. Beijing has built bases on atolls in the region, but says its intentions are peaceful.
Beijing routinely describes the scope of its claims with reference to the so-called nine-point line spanning about nine-tenths of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea on Chinese maps.
“This is basically the first time we’ve called it illegitimate,” said Chris Johnson, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It’s “okay” to make a statement, but what are you going to do about it? “
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