US official decries Chinese sea ‘intimidation’

BANGKOK – A United States envoy yesterday denounced Chinese “intimidation” in the South China Sea at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders and invited them to a special summit in Washington on behalf of US President Donald Trump.

China has made sweeping maritime claims in the resource-rich waters of the South China Sea and angered neighbors by sending ships into the busy waterway, where several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also have claims.

“Beijing has used intimidation to try to stop ASEAN nations from exploiting the off-shore resources, blocking access to $2.5 trillion of oil and gas reserves alone,” US national security adviser Robert O’Brien told the ASEAN-US summit in a speech.

“The region has no interest in a new imperial era where a big country can rule others on a theory that

might makes right,” added O’Brien, the White House national security adviser.

He also read a message from Trump inviting ASEAN leaders to “join me in the United States for a special summit, meeting at a time of mutual convenience in the first quarter of 2020.”

Trump has skipped the ASEANUS summit for the past two years, sending Vice President Mike Pence in 2018.

At this year’s summit, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was the highest-ranking delegation official, prompting the 10-member ASEAN to downgrade the summit to a “troika” attended only by top leaders from Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

Inhibition

Through repeated provocative actions to assert the nine-dash line, China is inhibiting ASEAN members from accessing over $2.5 trillion in recoverable energy reserves, while contributing to instability and the risk of conflict, according to a US report on the implementation of whole-of-government strategy for the Indo-Pacific region.

The US Department of State’s progress report titled “A Free and Open Indo-Pacific: Advancing a Shared Vision” that was released yesterday noted that the US cooperates with Indo-Pacific partners to maintain freedom of navigation and other lawful uses of the sea so that all nations can access and benefit from the maritime commons.

In the South China Sea, the urged all claimants, including China, to resolve disputes peacefully, without coercion, and in accordance with international law.

Beijing’s maritime claims in the South China Sea, exemplified by the preposterous “nine-dash line,” are unfounded, unlawful and unreasonable, according to the report.

“These claims, which are without legal, historic or geographic merit, impose real costs on other countries,” it said.

The Philippines and China have officially convened an intergovernmental steering committee that will supervise projects under the two nations’ joint oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea.

The Philippines-China InterGovernmental Joint Steering Committee on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development held its first meeting in Beijing last month.

Over the past two years, the US welcomed historic firsts in its maritime cooperation. In May 2019, the US participated in the first joint sail by the US, Indian, Japanese and Philippines navies through the South China Sea.

Last September, the US cohosted with Thailand the first US-ASEAN maritime exercise to strengthen relationships and information sharing between the navies of ASEAN nations and the US.

Last year, the US expanded the Southeast Asia Maritime Law Enforcement Initiative. The 23rd edition of the US-Japan-India Malabar naval exercise last September demonstrated growing interoperability between the countries’ navies as they work together to strengthen maritime security in the Indo-Pacific.

“The US seeks to build a flexible, resilient network of likeminded security partners to address common challenges. Washington share information and build the capacity of security sector forces to respond to transnational crime, protect the maritime domain, address environmental challenges and response collectively to emerging threats,” the report said.

“We also ensure that the US military and its allies maintain interoperable capabilities to deter adversaries,” it added.

The US’s enduring commitment to the Indo-Pacific is demonstrated daily by its presence in the region with approximately 375,000 US military and civilian personnel assigned to the US Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility.

The Indo-Pacific strategy is the US approach to strengthening the international order in line with Trump’s vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

The US Congress demonstrated its support for the priorities of the Indo-Pacific strategy through the passage of the BUILD Act in October 2018 and the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act in two months, according to the report.

In a landmark ruling on July 12, 2016, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) found no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to a “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea and Beijing had breached the sovereign rights of the Philippines, which brought the case. The US underscored that the arUS bitral tribunal’s decision invalidating China’s “nine-dash line” claim in the South China Sea is “final” and “legally binding” as Washington strongly opposed Beijing’s efforts to assert its “unlawful” maritime claims.

The tribunal also found that China’s activities relating to the construction of artificial islands and the practices of Chinese fishermen violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea requirements for the protection of maritime environment.

The State Department emphasized that the tribunal decision rejected China’s “nine-dash line” maritime claim and further made clear that drawing baselines around island groups in the South China Sea would be unlawful.