Former police officer Abner Afuang burns a Chinese flag in front of the
Department of Foreign Affairs to oppose the presence of Chinese vessels in the
disputed territory in the South China Sea Friday, July 27, 2012 in suburban
Pasay City, south of Manila, Philippines. Afuang called on the government to
persist on its claim on Scarborough Shoal which is within the country's
economic zone.
WASHINGTON (AP) — China has heightened tensions in the South
China Sea with its new, remote island city and planned military garrison in a
contested area viewed as a potential flashpoint for conflict in the
Asia-Pacific.
How might the United States
respond?
Criticize Beijing too strongly
and the Obama administration will strain its relationship with the emerging
superpower. Let it pass and undermine two years of intense diplomacy that has
promoted the U.S. standing among Southeast Asian nations that are intimidated
by China's rise.
A key plank of the
administration's engagement in the Asia-Pacific since 2010 has been its
declaration of a U.S. national interest in the maintenance of peace and
stability in the South China Sea, where China and five of its neighbors — most
notably the Philippines and Vietnam — have competing territorial claims.
But tensions have only escalated.
China's raising of the flag this week at Sansha municipality, on tiny Yongxing
island, 220 miles from its southernmost province of Hainan, come as claimants
jockey for influence in the resource-rich region.
China will not be able to project
much military power from such a small outpost, with a population of just 1,000
people and scarcely room for an airstrip, but it has symbolic importance. Beijing
says the municipality will administer hundreds of thousands of square miles of
water where it wants to strengthen its control over disputed, and potentially
oil-rich, islands.
In Washington, lawmakers
interested in Asia policy have been quick to respond.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called
the move provocative and said it reinforced worries that China would attempt to
impose its territorial claims through intimidation and coercion. Sen. Jim Webb,
D-Va., said China's attempt to assert control of disputed territories may be a
violation of international law.
While the State Department was
careful in its reaction, it also criticized China's "unilateral
moves."
"I think there is a concern
here, that they are beginning to take actions when we want to see all of these
issues resolved at the table," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday.
President Barack Obama will not
want to appear soft on China as he fights for re-election against Republican
contender Mitt Romney. Romney has accused the incumbent of being weak on
Beijing and has pledged to get tough, in particular, on China's trading
practices.
The U.S. is walking a fine line
in its diplomacy on the South China Sea, always stressing it does not take a
position on the competing sovereignty claims.
Defining it as a U.S. national
interest in 2010 helped galvanize Washington's standing in the region, revive
ties with treaty ally the Philippines and build a relationship with former
enemy Vietnam.
As part of its broader push, or
"pivot," toward Asia, the U.S. elevated its engagement with the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Also, the Obama
administration strongly supports the 10-nation bloc's efforts to negotiate
collectively with China on the issue and draft a code of conduct to help manage
South China Sea disputes.
That's annoyed China, which
claims virtually the entire South China Sea and its island groups and would
prefer to negotiate with the other claimants individually. Beijing also views
U.S. intervention on the issue as encouraging Vietnam and the Philippines to be
more confrontational in asserting their own claims.
When Chinese fishing boats were
stopped by the Philippine vessels at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in April,
inside what Manila regards as its exclusive economic zone, it deployed a navy
ship, supplied by the U.S. the previous year. That led China to send more
vessels of its own, escalating a standoff that rumbles on.
The establishment of Sansha
municipality in another portion of the South China Sea follows Vietnam's passage
of a law in June stating its jurisdiction over the Paracel and Spratly Island
chains and declaring that all foreign naval ships entering these areas must
notify Vietnamese authorities.
The chance of such disputes
spiraling into a major conflict still appears slim, but the stakes could rise
in the years ahead as competition intensifies for the oil and gas resources in
the South China Sea.
The U.S. strategy for managing
and eventually resolving these disputes largely hangs on the efforts of ASEAN.
The organization has made some progress in drafting a code of conduct, but
there's no sign of a lasting resolution of territorial disputes, and the South
China Sea is emerging as a divisive issue in a grouping that prizes its unity.
For the first time in its 45-year
history, ASEAN failed to issue at communique at an annual meeting of its 10
foreign ministers this month. The host country, Cambodia, viewed as
pro-Beijing, rejected a proposal by the Philippines and Vietnam to mention
their separate territorial disputes with China in the statement.
In a damage-limitation move,
Indonesia brokered a compromise last week. But it's one that will do little to
assuage concerns of a rift within the grouping and a narrative that the Obama
administration will be anxious to avoid — that the struggle over the South
China Sea pits the strategic interests of the U.S. against China.
MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment