PHNOM PENH: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged countries around the South
China Sea to settle their territorial disputes "without coercion" as
she prepared to meet her Chinese counterpart.
Clinton is to sit down with
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at an Asian security summit in Cambodia, with the
top US diplomat keen to avoid souring ties amid a fraught background of rows
between Beijing and its neighbours.
The US has made a military and
economic "pivot" towards Asia in a strategic bid to counteract
China's influence in the region, the main bright spot of the morose global
economy and home to huge untapped resources.
Discussions between Clinton and
Yang at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh come amid a fresh spat over a
string of remote islands claimed by Japan and China.
The sudden flare-up of new
tensions, sparked by Chinese patrol boats approaching the islands on Wednesday,
threatened to overshadow efforts by Southeast Asian nations to agree on a
"code of conduct" for disputed waters.
Nations of the region should
"resolve disputes without coercion, without intimidation, without threats,
and without use of force", Clinton said in a speech to the summit,
according to a text released to the media.
She again urged progress on the
long-stalled code of conduct, to avoid "confusion and even
confrontation" over shipping and fishing rights in the resource-rich South
China Sea.
Japan lodged a formal complaint
with China on Wednesday over their island dispute and summoned the Chinese
ambassador, while Beijing said they "have always been China's territory
since ancient times".
Japan refers to the islands in
the East China Sea as Senkaku and sees a Japanese family as the owners, while
China calls them the Diaoyu.
Analysts say Clinton is likely to
try to balance support for US allies Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam -- all
angered by China's recent perceived aggression in contested seas -- with
efforts to keep Beijing onside.
The resource-rich South China
Sea, home to vital shipping lanes, is the subject of overlapping claims by Vietnam,
the Philippines, Malaysia and others, but is considered almost entirely Chinese
by Beijing.
China said it is prepared to
discuss a limited code of conduct to boost trust, but it wants to settle
territorial disputes bilaterally -- largely because it can bring its huge
economic clout to bear in negotiations with small neighbours.
In a statement late on Wednesday,
it said some Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members had
proposed starting discussions about a code, which China saw as being possible
only "when conditions are ripe".
The Philippines is leading a push
for ASEAN to unite to persuade China to accept a code of conduct based on a UN
law on maritime boundaries that would delineate the areas belonging to each
country.
Asked about the Japan-China spat,
Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario told reporters on Wednesday:
"It looks like they're (China) becoming more aggressive every day."
Wary of irking China, which has
warned against "hyping" problems in the South China Sea, Clinton will
also discuss several less contentious issues with her Chinese counterpart --
such as joint humanitarian response work.
She will also raise the spike in
tension between Japan and China, an aide to Clinton told AFP.
The islands are covered by a
US-Japan security pact dating back to 1960, but Washington is keen to see the
issue of ultimate sovereignty resolved "through peaceful means".
Analysts say the unexpected
confrontation over the islands in the East China Sea will further spur
neighbouring countries anxious about China's rise into the United States'
orbit.
"The Chinese huff and bluff
with Japan does not augur well," said Southeast Asia expert Carl Thayer,
who runs a consultancy. "China's actions have certainly pushed the
Philippines towards Washington."
- AFP/ck
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