Mike Pompeo also denounced China’s claims about the disputed Spratly Islands.
Washington:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the United States would consider Beijing’s pursuit of resources in the South China Sea illegal, increasing pressure on another front.
“We are clear: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea are completely illegal, as is its intimidation campaign to control them,” Pompeo said in a statement.
The United States has long rejected Beijing’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea, aligning itself with Vietnam, the Philippines and other American partners in the region.
But Pompeo has gone further by explicitly taking the side of the nations of Southeast Asia, after years when the United States has declared that it has taken no position on the merits of individual disputes.
In accordance with the 2016 conclusion of an international tribunal, Pompeo said that the reef of mischief and the second Thomas Shoal “fall entirely under the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the Philippines”.
Pompeo also denounced China’s claims on the disputed Spratly Islands, where China announced administrative districts earlier this year, which would allow Beijing to expand its maritime claims.
As a result, the United States now rejects Beijing’s claims in the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, Lucania Shoals off Malaysia, the waters considered in the exclusive economic zone of Brunei and Natuna Besar off Indonesia, said Pompeo.
“Any action by the PRC to harass the fishing or development of other states’ hydrocarbons in these waters – or to carry out such activities unilaterally – is illegal,” said Pompeo.
The declaration is the last affirmative step in President Donald Trump’s administration against China, which he has increasingly described as an enemy before the November elections.
In recent weeks, the United States has imposed visa restrictions on government officials on the treatment of Uighur and Tibetan minorities as well as on the crackdown from Beijing to Hong Kong.
Trump also severely criticized China for the coronavirus pandemic.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
