United States State Secretary John Kerry supported on Wednesday the joint communiqué issued by Southeast Asian nations that has been criticized for failing to mention the arbitral tribunal’s decision favorable to the Philippines over its claims against China.
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Earlier this month, an global tribunal in the Hague rejected China’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and said it has no legal basis under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, a senior US administration official said at the end of a visit to China by National Security Adviser Susan Rice that she had emphasised all parties should take steps to reduce tensions and use the ruling to reinvigorate regional diplomacy.
China did not participate in and has refused to accept the July 12 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in The Hague, in which US ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory.
“On the basis of worldwide law, the issue involving the South China Sea should be peacefully resolved”, Kishida said.
The Philippines, which says it owns areas claimed by China, took the case to a Hague-based tribunal for arbitration.
“We have made clear that the decision of the arbitral tribunal convened under the [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea] is legally binding and that we expect the parties will comply with their obligations on the law”, Kerry said in the televised briefing.
With this agreement, China had brought back the Asean to bilateral talks at the expense of multilateral negotiations, backed by the former Philippine government and the US.
Meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Rice said the US and China’s interdependence meant that China’s success was also in America’s interest, and said the two nations have demonstrated that they can work together on major global issues such as climate change.
China has been successful at dividing ASEAN, making side offers to enough members to avoid the kind of unified statement that would have made for choppy diplomatic waters, after an global court refuted China’s broad territorial claims.
For his part, the US secretary of state affirmed the neutral USA stance on various overlapping territorial disputes on the South China Sea. The next question is how Washington plans to pressure Beijing over South China Sea issues at the forum’s main event, beginning on July 26.
He said he would encourage Mr Duterte, who assumed office on June 30, to engage in dialogue and “turn the page” with China.
ASEAN experienced similar difficulties with a joint communique in 2012 due to member differences over South China Sea issues.
The Chinese government has said in a white paper that the Philippines’ territorial claim over part of Nansha Islands is groundless from the perspectives of either history or global law.
China’s claims to the waters overlap those of Asean nations including the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, and Malaysia.
During the luncheon, Kerry congratulated Duterte for his election victory, which he said showed the strength and vibrancy of Filipino democracy, Kerry’s deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.
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The Associated Press finds it “ironic” that ASEAN is basically irrelevant to this statement as its foreign ministers couldn’t agree on a position to take against China. “The others are not concerned with that dispute”, Yasay told reporters. “We would hope this would be pursued as soon as possible”, said Mr. Yasay. Despite recent high tensions in the disputed region, Rene noted that China would most likely employ self-restraint in order to avoid open conflict.
