The United States has rejected China’s controversial claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, a contentious and potentially energy-rich stretch of water. Beijing, in turn, has accused the United States of interfering and causing tensions in the region.
“The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Monday.
“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.”
The United States has long opposed China’s expansive land claims in the South China Sea, regularly dispatching naval patrols through strategic waterways to demonstrate freedom of navigation there. More recently, on July 4, two US aircraft carriers conducted operations in the area while the Chinese military conducted drills nearby.
Monday’s comments reflect a harsher tone and rising tensions between the two powers amid deteriorating relations.
China responded Tuesday, describing its historic claims about the waters and claiming that the United States was trying to “sow trouble” and had acted like a bully by sending frequent ships to the area.
“The United States is the destroyer and troublemaker of regional peace and stability, and the international community sees this very clearly,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Tuesday during a press conference, according to the state newspaper. Global Times.
“We are very dissatisfied and firmly opposed to the wrongdoings of the United States and we urge the United States to stop creating problems in the problems of the South China Sea … China will continue to safeguard its sovereignty and security in accordance with the law.” .
The Chinese embassy in Washington also said Monday that the United States “is giving its weight in all the seas of the world.” Furthermore, “it was not a country directly involved in the disputes” and it was interfering.
“Under the guise of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, causing tension and inciting confrontation in the region,” the statement from the Chinese embassy said.
About $ 3 trillion in trade dollars flow through the contentious waterway each year, and analysts say it will be key to see if other countries like the Philippines or Vietnam adopt the United States’ stance and what Washington could do to strengthen its position.
The numerous sovereign rights that overlap the islands, reefs and rocks, many of which disappear at high tide, have turned the waters into a zone of competing diplomatic interests, entangling neighbors.
China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam also claim parts of it.
In April, Vietnam filed an official protest with China, following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel that it said had been rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance ship near the Paracel Islands. China denied the claims, saying the Vietnamese ship had illegally entered the area.
In 2016, an international arbitration court, in which China did not participate, annulled most of China’s claims for maritime rights in the South China Sea, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ( UNCLOS). However, China rejected the ruling, preferring instead to negotiate directly with the plaintiffs, and has criticized the US for failing to sign up to the UN convention.
Earlier this month, Japan during its annual defense review accused China of pushing its territorial claims amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying that China “continued to try to alter the status quo in the East China Sea and South Sea. China, “in a defense White Paper approved by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to Reuters.
The United States and Thailand also signed a “Strategic Vision Statement,” according to the United States Embassy in Thailand this month, as Washington seeks to reassure its allies of its commitment to the region.
The relationship between the US 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.
However, last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China and the United States should release more “positive energy” and jointly explore forms of peaceful coexistence.
Reuters contributed
