Conflict over the South China Sea

"The fundamental goal underpinning this shift is to maintain the U.S. dominance in the resources-rich and fastest-growing region, amid heightened concerns about China's rise,"

China warns US not to take sides in sea disputes

The News,

September 05, 2012

JAKARTA/BEIJING: China warned the United States not to get involved in South China Sea territorial disputes on Tuesday as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing pledging to pass on a strong message on the need to calm regional tension.

The last time Clinton visited the Chinese capital, plans to highlight improving US-China ties were derailed by a blind Chinese dissident whose dramatic flight to the US embassy exposed the deeply uneasy relationship.

The irritants this time are disputes over tiny islets and craggy outcrops in oil- and gas-rich areas of the South and East China Seas that have set China against US regional allies such as the Philippines and Taiwan.

US officials say the message is once again one of cooperation and partnership - and an important chance to compare notes during a year of political transition. But the unease remains, sharpened by disputes in the South and East China Seas that have rattled nerves across the region and led to testy exchanges with Washington just as the Obama administration “pivots” to the Asia-Pacific region following years of military engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei suggested at a daily news briefing that Washington was not a helpful force in the maritime disputes. “We have noted that the United States has stated many times that it does not take sides,” he said when asked about the US role. “We hope that the United States will abide by its promises and do more that is beneficial to regional peace and stability, and not the opposite.”

Chinese newspapers, including Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, have suggested the South China Sea territorial claims are among Beijing’s “core national interests” - a term suggesting they share the same importance as sovereignty over Tibet and Xinjiang.

Hong did not directly answer a question about whether that was the government’s official position.

“China, like any other country in the world, has the duty to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said. Clinton arrived in Beijing late on Tuesday, huddling with US officials on board her plane before heading off to meetings with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi followed by a dinner.

In Jakarta on Monday, she urged China and its Southeast Asian neighbours to move quickly on a code of conduct for the South China Sea and stressed that disputes should be resolved “without coercion, without intimidation, without threats and certainly without the use of force”.

But progress has been thwarted in recent months by China’s increasingly assertive posture, which has included establishing a garrison on a disputed island and stepping up patrols of contested waters. That suggests Beijing has no intention of backing down on its unilateral claim to sovereignty over a huge stretch of ocean and potentially equally large energy reserves.

Clinton faces a balancing act, pushing on the territorial disputes while keeping cooperation on track on other issues including reining in the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programmes, the Syria crisis and economic disputes that have long be devilled the two countries.

“One of the challenges before us is to demonstrate how we deal with areas in which we have different perceptions and where we face challenging issues on the ground, or in this case on the water,” one senior US official said. But some Chinese media have been blunt in their opposition to Clinton. The Global Times, a popular, nationalist tabloid, accused her of “deeply intensifying mutual suspicion”.

“Many Chinese people dislike Hillary Clinton,” it said in an editorial. “She has brought new and extremely profound mutual distrust between the mainstream societies of the two countries, and removing that will not be easy.”

But Hillary Clinton stresses the stategic importance of the South China Sea to the US - if it belongs to the Empire

Clinton stresses importance of South China Sea

UPI,

6 September, 2012

The United States has a "national interest" in the maintenance of unimpeded, lawful commerce in the South China Sea, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

Addressing a news conference in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, Clinton asked the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China to work toward a code of conduct for settling the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

"The United States has a national interest, as every country does, in the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law, freedom of navigation, unimpeded lawful commerce in the South China Sea," Clinton said, a State Department transcript showed.

Clinton arrived in Jakarta as part of her Asia-Pacific tour, which will also include a trip to China Tuesday. The visit comes as China continues to assert sovereignty over resource-rich islands in the sea over which Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have overlapping claims. The United States, knowing the strategic sea lanes are vital for international commerce, is concerned about the rising territorial tensions and supports a multilateral format for resolving the issues. China prefers a bilateral approach, which critics say would allow it to exert pressure on countries that have close economic ties with it.

Clinton repeated the U.S. stand that while it does not take a position on competing territorial claims, it wants the nations of the region to work together to resolve the disputes without intimidation, threats or use of force.

"That is why we encourage ASEAN and China to make meaningful progress towards finalizing a comprehensive code of conduct in order to establish rules of the road and clear procedures for peacefully addressing disagreements," she said.

The ASEAN group could not agree on a code of conduct at its July summit. Since then China has set up a military garrison in the disputed waters, which has further raised the concerns of neighboring nations.

"The United States believes very strongly that no party should take any steps that would increase tensions or do anything that could be viewed as coercive or intimidating to advance their territorial claims," Clinton said.

In a report Tuesday ahead of Clinton's China visit, the official Xinhua news agency said her visit will be followed later this month by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

"The world's attention will focus on how the two U.S. officials will explain to the Chinese side the true intentions of the Obama administration's pivot to Asia policy, especially its new defense strategy," the report said, adding Washington has been implementing the policy by expanding and intensifying its political, diplomatic and military involvement in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The fundamental goal underpinning this shift is to maintain the U.S. dominance in the resources-rich and fastest-growing region, amid heightened concerns about China's rise," the report said.

As part of this policy, it said, Washington has quickened the pace of increasing its military presence and engagement in the Asia Pacific, including deploying troops in Australia, boosting military cooperation with Japan, and purposely strengthening military ties with some Asian countries, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam, both involved in territorial disputes with China.

Separately, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, while referring to the Clinton visit, said Monday that Beijing hoped the United States would promote peace and stability in the region by "not taking sides" in Chinese maritime disputes with neighboring states, the Voice of America reported.

Clinton was in Jakarta to discuss the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, which began in 2007, the secretary's office said in a release.

The Comprehensive Partnership includes issues and actions on regional and global cooperation; economy; trade and investment; education; development; climate, environment and energy; defense and security; and rule of law and law enforcement, the release said.