Barack Obama has reminded China that an global ruling rejecting Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea is “binding”.
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President Barack Obama put the long-simmering dispute in the South China Sea front and center on the agenda at a regional summit Thursday as it became clear that most of the other leaders gathered in the Laotian capital were going to let China off with a mild rebuke over its territorial expansion in the resource-rich waters.
“The landmark arbitration ruling in July, which is binding, helped clarify maritime rights in the region”, Obama told a summit of Asian leaders in Laos on Thursday.
“I recognise this raises tensions”, Obama said referring to the ruling “but I also look forward to discussing how we can constructively move forward together to lower tensions and promote diplomacy and stability”.
In backing the Chinese position, Putin also says any intervention by countries outside the region will only interrupt the steps needed to solve disputes in the South China Sea.
Their reticence in discussing Beijing’s defiance of an worldwide court order nullifying most of China’s claims contrasted with the outspokenness of US President Barack Obama, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Anyone, including the U.S. side, one basic fact that must be made clear is that regarding issues of territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, China will never accept any third-party settlement adopted without China’s consent or any solution shoved under its nose”, Hua said.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiangm, as well as the leaders of Russia, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand were all in attendance.
Abe also noted that the South China Sea was a “vitally important sea lane for Japan”.
China shot back with comments aimed at the US.
On Wednesday, Asean and China agreed on confidence-building measures to reduce tensions in the South China Sea.
“It is much too immature”, a longtime ASEAN diplomat said.
The US President’s statement came during a meeting with leaders of ASEAN member states. At a commemorative summit in Laos to mark the 25th anniversary of dialogue relations between Asean and China, both sides announced that they will set up a communications protocol for unplanned encounters in the South China Sea, and a hotline among the foreign ministries to respond to maritime emergencies.
Meanwhile, a Xinhua news agency commentary yesterday called Mr Obama’s United States rebalance to Asia a “narrow-minded scheme orchestrated to maintain his country’s hegemony and corrosive to the region’s peace and stability”.
Apart from the Philippines, three other Asean states – Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia – also lay claim to parts of the South China Sea.
The Philippines is concerned that China may plan to turn the shoal into another man-made island.
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The Chinese ships were at Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), a small fishing ground within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone that China took control of in 2012.
