US sides with Southeast Asian countries over South China Sea claims [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally declared on Monday that the US rejects China’s claim over the South China Sea.
• In his statement, Pompeo said that “Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful,” adding that it’s bullying its neighboring countries.
• This event would likely add to the mounting tensions between the US and China, which was already fueled by issues on the coronavirus pandemic, human rights, and cybersecurity.

The rising hostility between the US and China could likely worsen with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement on Monday that the US has formally rejected China’s ownership claim over the South China Sea.

“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,” Pompeo added in his statement. “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.”

The secretary said on Monday that the US supports the 2016 international tribunal decision that rejected Beijing’s claim that has no international law basis.

Pompeo’s pronouncement sides with the claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei in their territorial battle against China. The Southeast Asian nations continue to dispute Beijing’s claims to the vast maritime territory which is highly used for fishing and offshore energy advancement.

Despite getting global criticisms, China has been claiming more than 80 percent of 1.4 million square miles in a rich area of maritime trade and undisturbed oil and gas resources. Beijing has long been in years of a subordinate clash with Southeast Asian countries over its claims to an archipelago and continuous development of manmade islands.

Since 2017, the Trump administration has conducted six naval maneuvers and exercises in the South China Sea which China considered as a provocation. Last July 4, both countries did competing naval operations.

The US draws concern over China’s growing development of manmade islands armed with military equipment in the disputed water territory, saying that it created its own facts for its claims. China has repeatedly claimed that such buildup efforts are for defense purposes.

The latest event marks one of the lowest relational ties between the US and China, which was already getting into collision over the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns of human rights to cybersecurity.

Source: The Hill