Conflict in the South China Sea

South China Sea feud: Beijing rebukes Washington's 'biased' stance

China’s Foreign Ministry has called on an American diplomat to protest State Department accusations that Beijing is hindering diplomatic efforts in the South China Sea. It’s just the latest controversy in the countries' already tense relationship.

RT,

5 August, 2012

The ministry said on its website that Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng had summoned the US Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Wang to present "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to the statement from Washington. 

 

On Friday, the State Department said that Beijing’s establishment of a military garrison in the area runs against "collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region,” according to Reuters.

In the statement, the US voiced support for diplomatic efforts by Southeast Asian nations negotiating with Beijing, who claims virtually all of the South China Sea as its own.

But the Philippines has also claimed the territory.

And it’s no wonder that the sea is coveted by both nations, as its waters and islands are rich in oil and gas.

According to China's Ministry of Geological Resources and Mining, the South China Sea may contain up to 17.7 billion tons of crude oil.

Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Friday’s remark "completely ignored the facts, deliberately confounded right and wrong, and sent a seriously wrong signal, which is not conducive to the efforts safeguarding the peace and stability of the South China Sea and the Asia Pacific region." 

 

Washington’s response comes just five days after China established the city of Sansha on a remote island 220 miles from its southernmost province. Sansha is intended to administer hundreds of thousands of square miles of water in an area where China wants to strengthen its control over disputed islands.

Since the establishment of Sansha, “the US government and several politicians have repeatedly made irresponsible remarks on the issue, reflecting Washington's attempts to meddle in Asian affairs,” China’s state-run news agency Xinhua said.

The Philippines has called Sansha's creation unacceptable – and it’s not the first time the two countries have clashed.

Within the South China Sea lies the Scarborough Reef – the site of an intense standoff between Beijing and Manila. 

 

The dispute began last April, when Chinese fishing boats were stopped by Philippine vessels at the reef.

Manila sent a navy ship to the site, and China responded by sending more vessels of its own. 

 

The US backed a mutual withdrawal agreement between the two countries in June. However, Manila says Beijing has broken the agreement by using barriers to block Philippine access to the reef.

Washington maintains that it holds a neutral position on the dispute, but Beijing disagrees – mainly because of joint military drills between the US and the Philippines last April. 

 

According to CBS News, the United States has consistently said that it refuses to take sides, although it is obliged to defend the Philippines from outside aggression, under an existing mutual defense treaty.

But America’s actions have angered China, and Beijing isn’t keeping quiet.

China accuses the US of trying to isolate it from neighboring nations. "The US selectively takes sides in these disputes. By doing so, Washington intends to alienate China from countries around the South China Sea,” Xinhua reported. 

 

In July 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said her country had a "national interest" in the South China Sea. Since then, Washington has taken a series of unilateral actions in the region, according to Xinhua.

Earlier this year, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that he would raise the Navy's Pacific Ocean deployment by 10 per cent.

But China has made it clear that it is uninterested in American intervention.

 

And as the ongoing debate over the Scarborough Reef continues, the question remains whether the US will work with China and Southeast Asian countries to maintain stability in the Asia-Pacific region – or simply add more fuel to an already blazing fire.