Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at the 1 Malaysia Entrepreneurs (1MET) launching ceremony in Kuala Lumpur (Samsul Said Reuters, / October 11, 2013)
BEIJING (Reuters) – China criticized U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday for giving tacit backing to the Philippines’ stance in a tense maritime dispute, stressing again that it rejects Manila’s attempt to seek arbitration.
The Philippines, a U.S. ally, has angered China by launching an arbitration case with the United Nations to challenge the legal validity of Beijing’s sweeping claims over the resource-rich South China Sea.
The United States has refrained from taking sides in the dispute, one of Asia’s biggest security headaches, but has expressed a national interest in freedom of navigation through one of the world’s busiest shipping channels.
Kerry told leaders at the East Asia Summit in Brunei, including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, that all claimants “can engage in arbitration and other means of peaceful negotiation”.
When asked about Kerry’s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that “non-parties to the dispute should respect the efforts by relevant parties involved to peacefully solve the dispute through direct and friendly negotiation … instead of doing things that could harm regional peace and stability”.
“I also want to add that as everybody can see, the South China Sea has been calm and tranquil, so if some country really wants to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea, it should stop stirring up waves,” Hua said.
China claims almost the entire oil- and gas-rich South China Sea, overlapping with claims from Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam. The last four are members of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The row is one of the region’s biggest flashpoints amid China’s military build-up and the U.S. strategic “pivot” back to Asia signaled by the Obama administration in 2011.
Frustrated by the slow pace of regional diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute, the Philippines has hired an international legal team to fight its arbitration case under the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea – ignoring growing pressure from Beijing.
Hua reiterated China’s stance that it will not accept the Philippines’ request for international arbitration.
“China’s stance on this will not change,” she said. “Our stance is entirely justified by international law.
“China has been advocating and devoted to peacefully solving disputes over territorial and maritime rights and interests with direct claimants through bilateral and friendly negotiation.”
Diplomatic efforts to ease tensions are now centered on Chinese talks with ASEAN to frame a code of conduct for disputes in the South China Sea, but Beijing has restricted talks to low-level consultations rather than formal negotiations.
The annual East Asia Summit ended on Thursday without significant progress on the dispute, with a joint ASEAN-China statement saying only that the two sides had agreed to “maintain the momentum of the regular official consultations”.
(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Copyright © 2013, Reuters
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RELATED STORY:
Asean, US, other partners push sea code
By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star
The Philippine Star
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – The United States joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) yesterday in pushing for early conclusion of a code of conduct in the South China Sea with China to ease tensions among claimant-countries and find means to resolve the dispute without “resorting to threats or the use of force.”
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed serious concern over efforts to alter the status quo in the South China Sea through force and intimidation.
Kuni Sato, press secretary for Japan’s foreign ministry, said any issue should be settled peacefully.
Abe mentioned to President Aquino the importance of keeping unity among ASEAN members, he added.
Aquino agreed with Abe and the two leaders vowed to continue to collaborate on various issues, Sato said.
Other dialogue partners of ASEAN – including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and India – stressed during the 8th East Asia Summit the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea.
They said the disputes must be settled through friendly consultations and negotiations in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In the first US-ASEAN summit participated in by Secretary of State John Kerry, the ASEAN and the US “welcomed the recent positive progress of dialogue on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.”
“We encouraged relevant parties to keep dialogue and consultations for the timely attainment of the COC,” the chairman’s statement of the first ASEAN-US summit read.
The ASEAN and its dialogue partners also welcomed the commitment of the parties involved in the dispute to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), including the guidelines for the implementation of the DOC and to work towards the adoption of a COC on the basis of consensus.
China has conflicting territorial claims with ASEAN members including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, who turned over the chairmanship of ASEAN to Myanmar at the end of the summit, stressed the importance of ASEAN unity and centrality in its efforts to develop a COC.
In the joint statement of ASEAN and China issued after their 16th summit and the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership, the leaders expressed commitment to “work towards the conclusion” of a COC also on the basis of consensus through continuous negotiations.
They recognized the DOC crafted in 2002 as an important milestone document embodying the collective commitment of ASEAN member-states and China to promote freedom of navigation, peace, stability, mutual trust and peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international laws.
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