The top US diplomat said China indicated its willingness and readiness to engage in bilateral negotiation with the Philippines on Tuesday, a day after Kerry met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
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The court of arbitration declared that China has no legal basis for claiming historic rights to resources within the South China Sea’s nine-dash line, used by Beijing for its claim over the major part of the sea territory.
The statement came hours after Asean foreign ministers broke a weekend deadlock to issue a joint communique on the territorial dispute following an annual meeting in Laos. A compromise was reached: mention of the arbitration case was dropped in return for inclusion of the point that there was a need to find peaceful resolution in accordance with global law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which the court referred.
Meanwhile, the head of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, has told a forum in Tokyo that the United States believes South China Sea claimants should use the July 12 decision as a “new opportunity to renew efforts to address their maritime disputes peacefully”.
The consensus between Kerry and Wang surprised many observers, since Washington has publicly pressed Beijing to accept the recent ruling by the Arbitral Tribunal of The Hague in a case unilaterally initiated by Manila in 2013.
China’s move to fortify rocky outcrops in the South China Sea has alarmed countries along the sea.
Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) members have failed to take a joint stance over the South China Sea territory conflicts but they stress the need to find peaceful resolutions to disputes in accordance with worldwide law.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, a senior USA 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.
“That was not the object of our meeting”, he added, referring to the United Nations maritime treaty that was the basis of the arbitration ruling.
KERRY’S COURTESY CALL US Secretary of State John Kerry pays a visit to President Duterte in Malacañang.
REUTERS picChina’s foreign minister has asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following a ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month.
“States only comply with worldwide law when it serves their interests”, Muhamad Arif, researcher at the Habibie Center think-tank, said on Tuesday during a discussion organized by the center in Jakarta.
He reiterated that the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration was legally binding, and not irrelevant.
“What we want to do is urge people to not try to build up the tensions”.
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“The US position is slightly undercut because it’s not a signatory to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, but nevertheless it sees itself as a counterweight to China”.
