Earlier Monday, the bloc, however, omitted from a joint statement any mention of a recent worldwide arbitration panel ruling in a dispute between the Philippines and China that said Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea were illegal.
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The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea is “absolutely critical”.
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.
“We are trying to create a solution mindful of the rights of people established under the law.”
Rice is the highest-level White House official to visit China since the July 12 ruling that invalidated Beijing’s vast claims in the South China Sea, handing a victory to the Philippines, a US ally.
He dismissed the trilateral statement’s assertion that the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration is binding, adding that countries in the region have resisted choosing sides on the arbitration case, believing that it is a bilateral issue between China and the Philippines. In addition to China and the Philippines, overlapping claims have also been made by Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei.
A senior USA official said Washington and Manila “are cooperating intensively not only on regional and global issues, but also in very practical issues such as law enforcement and maritime capacity building, implementation of our EDCA”.
Kerry, who landed in Manila at 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday, paid a courtesy call to Duterte in Malacañang.
Mr Kerry is due to fly to Manila for talks with Mr Duterte later Tuesday.
China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have already set rules in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), he said. We can not believe that China, which disregards worldwide law, will seriously engage in the establishment of multinational rules.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addresses Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his delegation at the National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, on July 25, 2016. The official said Kerry would also raise United States concerns over “an unhappy history” in the Philippines of extra-judicial killings and violence against journalists.
“The dispute in the South China Sea is between the Philippines and China, not ASEAN and China”, he said.
It can be recalled that China and the United States have traded barbs over the issue on South China Sea.
However, Kerry said the U.S. saw an “opportunity” for claimants to peacefully resolve the row.
China is adamantly opposed to an ASEAN stand on the South China Sea, preferring to deal with the disputed claims on a bilateral basis.
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Kishida and Wang agreed to continue talks for the early implementation of a mechanism to reduce the likelihood of unforeseen clashes between the countries’ vessels, the official said.
