https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...etely-unlawful
South China Sea: US says Beijing's claims to disputed area 'completely unlawful'
The US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said Washington will treat Beijing’s pursuit of resources in the
South China Sea as illegal, inflaming tensions between the two countries and ramping up support for Southeast Asian nations. It was the latest forceful statement by President Donald Trump’s administration to challenge
China, which he has increasingly cast as an enemy ahead of the November presidential election.
“We are making clear: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them,” Pompeo said in a statement. “The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire.”
China on Tuesday reiterated that it was firmly opposed to Washington’s assertions, and rejected as “completely unjustified” the allegation that Beijing bullied its neighbours.
“The United States is not a country directly involved in the disputes. However, it has kept interfering in the issue,” the Chinese Embassy in the United States said in statement published on its website. “Under the pretext of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region.”
The United States has long rejected Beijing’s
sweeping claims in the South China Sea, which is both home to valuable oil and gas deposits and a vital waterway for the world’s commerce. Pompeo’s statement goes further by explicitly siding with Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines and Vietnam, after years of the United States saying it took no position on individual claims.
“America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law,” Pompeo said.
“We stand with the international community in defense of freedom of the seas and respect for sovereignty and reject any push to impose ‘might makes right’ in the South China Sea or the wider region.”......
Pompeo issued his statement to mark the fourth anniversary of a tribunal decision that sided with the Philippines against the nine-dash line. Pompeo said that China, based on the court decision, cannot make claims based on the Scarborough Reef or Spratly Islands, a vast uninhabited archipelago.
The United States as a result now rejects Beijing’s claims in the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, Lucania Shoals off Malaysia, waters considered in Brunei’s exclusive economic zone and Natuna Besar off Indonesia, Pompeo said.
“Any PRC action to harass other states’ fishing or hydrocarbon development in these waters – or to carry out such activities unilaterally – is unlawful,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo also rejected Beijing’s southernmost claim of James Shoal, some 1,800km (1,150 miles) from the Chinese mainland, saying the area, administered by Malaysia, was completely submerged by water and therefore cannot determine a maritime zone......