Those waters, home to rich fisheries and oil-and-gas reserves and through which US$5 trillion in trade flow each year, are claimed nearly in its entirety by Beijing.
Advertisement
Barack Obama defended his efforts to “rebalance” United States foreign policy towards Asia yesterday, even as he wound up the final visit of his presidency to the region with the South China Sea dispute still smoldering.
“We hope the U.S. can take an objective and just attitude with respect to South China Sea issues”, Hua said.
China, which is laying claim to nearly 80 percent of disputed territory, had said that it does not recognize the ruling. China has refused to recognize the ruling by the court in The Hague.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration said China’s land reclamation and other efforts to assert control over the South China Sea had “aggravated” tensions, “inflicted irreparable harm” to the environment and “violated” Philippine sovereign rights. “We stressed the importance for the parties concerned to resolve their disputes by peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognized principles of worldwide laws”, it said.
Asian leaders have played down tensions over the South China Sea in a carefully worded summit statement In Vientiane, Laos.
China’s Premier Li Keqiang, fifth from left, links hands with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during 19th ASEAN-China summit, a parallel summit in the ongoing 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits at National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016.
But intensive Chinese lobbying helped to ensure there was no mention of the July ruling in the ASEAN statement.
Cambodia, for example, remains firmly in China’s camp, as is Laos to a large extent, preventing any robust statement from the consensus-bound Asean group.
China has built a military base on the Spratly Islands that are subject to competing claims from several nations and the Philippines is concerned China is planning to build on the Scarborough Shoal, not far from the Philippine coast.
If China did build an island at the shoal, it could lead to a military outpost just 230km from the main Philippine island, where U.S. forces are stationed. Its defense department expressed “grave concern” that Chinese boats were preparing to build structures at the shoal.
“We have assessed that there is militarization going on in some of these islands-not all, but some”.
Security analysts have said Chinese island-building at Scarborough Shoal could trigger a military confrontation.
Washington has led calls from some Western and Asian governments for China to abide by the tribunal ruling.
A barrage of other security threats were also in focus in Laos on Thursday, including North Korea’s nuclear ambitions following its latest missile tests.
At one point during the summit, erratic Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threw his script away during his designated time to speak.
Advertisement
Obama said that he was “determined to do everything I can to get the U.S. Congress to approve TPP before I leave office”, saying that the controversial economic free trade deal would be important for Asia, not just the United States.
