2010-07-24

U.S. says South China is "national interest"

US says S China Sea pacts in its national interest, riling Beijing
China and Vietnam claim the sea's Spratly and Paracel archipelagoes in their entirety, while the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim the Spratlys in part. Taiwan's claim mirrors Beijing's. Potentially rich in oil and gas, both island groups straddle vital sea lanes linking Asia to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"The United States has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia's maritime commons and respect for international law in the South China Sea," Clinton said. She referred repeatedly to the need to settle the rival territorial claims under international law - including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea - and "existing Asean principles".

One senior Association of Southeast Asian Nations diplomat said the issue of the Spratly Islands had been raised explicitly by members of Asia's top security forum, as well as concerns about China's military build-up, which has been marked by the rapid modernisation of its navy.

"The discussion was quite tense at one point. China ended up on the defensive," said the diplomat, who declined to be identified. Yang was "clearly exasperated", he said.

A second diplomat with knowledge of the discussion said Yang responded with "a very strong and emotional statement essentially suggesting that this was a pre-planned mobilisation on this issue ... He was distinctly not happy."

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