Washington to Beijing: Modify South China Sea claims
Beijing ( AsiaNews / Agencies) - A senior U.S.
official is calling on Beijing to "clarify" or "modify" its
territorial claims in the South China Sea, an area long been the center of a
dispute with several other nations in the Asia-Pacific region . Washington
calls for a "peaceful solution" to the tensions in one of the hottest
and most controversial areas of the entire Asian continent, as established by
international law. Daniel
Russell, an expert on East Asia for the Secretary of State criticizes Beijing
for the so-called "nine-dash
line" which delineates the possessions of China in
the area and does not hide "growing concern" for the "pattern of
behavoir" adopted so far. "Any
Chinese claim - said the U.S. diplomat -to maritime rights not based on claimed land features would be
inconsistent with international law."
Daniel
Russel also supports the action of the Philippines, which has decided to refer
the matter to the attention of a United Nations tribunal, a move made last
year and that sparked harsh reactions in China to find a "peaceful and
non-coercive" solution. Beijing
lacks "clarity ," said the senior U.S. official , and feeds
"uncertainty" in the region and heavy "limits" in an
attempt to find a common response.
The
position taken by Washington is a sign of a growing interventionism of the
United States in the dispute involving the South China Sea, closer to countries
such as the Philippines (or Japan in the East China Sea , another "
hot" front in the region ) in opposition - if not open conflict - with
Beijing. However,
while supporting a close military cooperation with Tokyo and Manila , the U.S.
State Department has always claimed it does not want to take sides in the
dispute over territorial sovereignty in this strategic point of Asia , the hub
of commerce and rich in raw materials .
On
the other hand, this has not stopped Beijing stepping up its territorial claims
and attacking those who openly criticize its policy. Yesterday,
the official Xinhua news agency branded
Philippine President Benigno Aquino as "unfortunate " and called him "an amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality" . The
harshest response to date by the Beijing agency was to Manila allegations equating
China to Nazi Germany for territorial claims in Europe before the Second World
War.
Moreover,
even analysts and international policy experts talk about "sense of
destiny" behind the aggressive attitude of Beijing in territorial disputes,
particularly those that relate to the East China Sea . The
judgment comes from James Clapper, director of U.S. intelligence, according to
whom China is behind an impressive acceleration in the arms race , in response
to U.S. power . Beijing
has a precise and "aggressive" idea of its "destiny" in history
and on the world stage, adds Clapper, who did not exclude that the tensions could
lead to a large-scale conflict in the not too distant future.
In
the East China Sea, China and Japan have been embroiled in a long-standing
dispute over sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu
Islands. In
the South China Sea, China and the Philippines have also been involved in a
similar dispute over the Scarborough Shoal. In the same area, Beijing also claims sovereignty over the Spratly and
Paracel Islands, which
are equally claimed by Vietnam, Brunei, Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan. The
islands are mostly uninhabited but rich in natural resources and raw materials.
Hegemony in such an area is crucial for trade and seabed oil and natural gas
development. Also, about two thirds of the world's maritime trade transit
through it.
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