Sea patrols to continue – US

China slams ‘3’

BEIJING, July 27, (Agencies): The US will continue naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea, Washington’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice told Chinese representatives during a series of meetings in Beijing, a senior American official said Tuesday.

Rice is among the highest-level US officials to visit China since an international tribunal this month rejected its vast territorial claims in the strategically vital region — infuriating Beijing and fuelling tensions with Washington.

Her trip was intended to prepare for a visit by President Barack Obama to a G20 summit in Hangzhou in September.

But the question of how to deal with the festering issue, in which Washington has played a prominent role, cast a long shadow over the talks, which included a meeting with President Xi Jinping.

Rice

Counterparts

In recent months Washington has sent naval vessels close to reefs and outcrops claimed by Beijing to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, sparking anger in China which has built a series of artificial islands in the area capable of supporting military operations.

In her meetings with top diplomatic and military officials, Rice told her counterparts that “those operations are lawful. They will continue”, according to a senior US official, who asked for anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject.

The issue was not directly raised with Xi, he said, describing the conversation as “incredibly positive”, although “there was a very clear recognition that we face a number of challenges”.

In general terms, he said, “both sides were very clear with one another”.

“There’s no room for ambiguity,” he added. “That kind of clarity... promotes stability and reduces the risk of miscalculation.”

A tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12 denied the legal basis for Beijing’s claim to nearly all of the sea, parts of which are also claimed by neighbouring nations.

Beijing rejected the ruling as “waste paper” and asserted its right to declare an Air Defence Identification Zone controlling flights over the area.

Rice “stressed the importance of all parties taking steps to reduce tensions. To avoid taking actions that ... could raise the risk of miscalculation”, the official said.

Instead, Rice called on Beijing to use the ruling as an opportunity to “reinvigorate diplomacy” in the region, he added.

In remarks before the meetings Monday, Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission warned that ties between the two powers could easily fray.

“We should be honest with ourselves that deep down in this relationship we’re still faced with obstacles and challenges,” he said, adding that military ties had been “impacted by some complicated and some sensitive factors”.

Tension

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized the United States, Japan and Australia for a joint statement on the South China Sea that he said was only “fanning the flames” of regional tensions just as countries have agreed to cool them down.

Wang said in a statement Wednesday that the move by the three countries came at an inappropriate time and wasn’t constructive.

“This trilateral statement is fanning the flames,” he said. “Now it is the time to test whether you are peacekeepers or troublemakers,” said Wang’s statement, referring to the three countries.

The three allies urged China not to construct military outposts and reclaim land in the disputed waters, making a strong show of support for Southeast Asian nations that have territorial disputes with Beijing, notably the Philippines and Vietnam.

Their joint statement, issued late Monday, filled a vacuum created by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose foreign ministers on Sunday failed to take a stand against China because of divisions among them.

The US, Japanese and Australia’s foreign ministers met in Laos on the sidelines of a series of meetings organized by ASEAN. The grouping could have leveraged the recent decision by a permanent arbitration panel, which ruled in favor of the Philippines in a case it brought against China in their dispute in the South China Sea.