US President Barack Obama will deliver a tough message to China during a summit with Southeast Asian countries next week that disputes in the South China Sea must be resolved peacefully and not with a big nation “bullying” smaller neighbors, the White House said on Tuesday.
Obama will also address North Korea’s “provocations” — a nuclear test last month and a rocket launch over the weekend — when he hosts ASEAN leaders in California on Monday and Tuesday, aides said.
US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said the president would reiterate that territorial disputes over the area, where China and several Southeast Asian states have conflicting and overlapping claims, must be handled through negotiations and consistent with international norms.
Photo: Reuters
Though China will not be represented, Obama’s aides made it clear that Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea, where it has proceeded with island-building that US officials suspect could be turned to military use, would be one of the focal points of the summit at the Sunnylands estate near Palm Springs, California.
“The president will call on all claimants to halt land reclamation, construction of new facilities and to carry out no militarization of outposts in the South China Sea,” Dan Kritenbrink, Obama’s top Asia adviser, told reporters on a conference call previewing the ASEAN talks.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than US$5 trillion of world trade is shipped every year. Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines have rival claims.
Rhodes said part of Obama’s message at the summit would be the need “to avoid efforts to resolve those disputes through one nation, bigger nation, bullying a smaller one,” uphold freedom of navigation, and avoid “inadvertent and unnecessary” military action in the South China Sea.
A US Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of an island claimed by China and two other states in the South China Sea late last month to counter what Washington deems unacceptable efforts to limit freedom of navigation, prompting an angry reaction from Beijing.
Obama will specifically discuss with Southeast Asian leaders his concerns about China’s recent test flights on a newly constructed runway on the Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑礁) in the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), Rhodes said.
However, even as Obama seeks to reassure Southeast Asian leaders of his resolve, he is expected to face divisions within the 10-nation bloc on how far they are willing to go in angering China.
The Philippines and Vietnam have taken a harder line, while Cambodia and Laos are more reluctant to confront Beijing.
US officials insist the summit is not about targeting China, but about bolstering economic and security ties with Southeast Asia, a region Obama has focused on as part of his signature “rebalance” toward Asia-Pacific.
Obama will also update Southeast Asian leaders on efforts to increase international sanctions pressure on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs, a process that the US officials said China had every reason to assist.
“We approach China on the basis that we have a shared interest in the principle of denuclearization and avoiding an escalation on the Korean peninsula,” Rhodes said.
However, the two nations have not entirely seen eye to eye on how strong the response should be to North Korea, with the US urging harsh punitive measures and China stressing the need for dialogue.
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