China's claims in South China Sea illegal: US
Asst Secretary of State Kritenbrink says Chinese maritime incursions unlawful.
Beijing's maritime claims in the South China Sea are unlawful under international law and the US is working to help other countries like Vietnam and the Philippines push back against Chinese aggression, a top State Department official said.
The Peoples Republic of China has no lawful claim over maritime areas determined by a 2016 tribunal in The Hague to be in the Philippine exclusive economic zone, Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said on Wednesday.
More than $3 trillion in global trade passes through the South China Sea every year. The sea accounts for 12 percent of global fish catch, estimated to generate $100 billion annually and supporting the livelihoods of 3.7 million people, according to Kritenbrink who spoke at a Center for Strategic and International Studies forum on Wednesday. He also talked about the US’s alliance building in the Asia Pacific and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent trip to Beijing.
“We didn't go to Beijing with the idea that we were fundamentally going to alter or transform the US-China relationship and we didn't go there with a vision of somehow changing our approach — our assessment — to this intense competition that we have with the PRC,” Kritenbrink said.
“We talked about the meetings being candid, substantive and constructive. And I think that's accurate. But I would probably put a particular emphasis on candid.”
South China Sea
Kritenbrink’s comments came at a CSIS conference on conflicting maritime claims between China and neighboring nations in the South China Sea. Faced with China’s assertions of sovereignty over international waters, which have been rejected by an international tribunal in The Hague, the US is working with the other countries in the Asia Pacific to help them assert their maritime claims.
“We talk about building a latticework of interlocking relationships, formal and informal, bilateral, multilateral mini-lateral, but all designed to buttress the rules-based international order that we think is so vital to peace and stability,” Kritenbrink said.
“The Philippines plays a very important part in that and I think its role is likely to grow,” he said.
The US has spent $1.6 billion in the past five years helping South Asian nations build maritime law enforcement capacity. And the US is providing satellite images to partner countries to help them identify when Chinese ships are in their exclusive economic zone.
India and ‘Quad’ nations
The US and India will work together in the South China Sea as security cooperation expands between the two democracies. India recently transferred a warship to Vietnam and has sold anti-ship missiles to Vietnam and the Philippines which have both been confronted by Chinese incursions into their territorial waters.
“The growth of our partnership with India and certainly the revitalization, and expansion of the activities of the Quad, these are some of the most significant strategic developments I think I've seen in my lifetime,” said Kritenbrink who accompanied Secretary Blinken on his recent visit to Beijing.
The US was “disappointed” Blinken’s visit failed to open military-to-military communications that have been shutdown by the Chinese, he said. But the trip paved the way for more senior-level visits in coming weeks, increased people-to-people contacts and air flights between the US and China.
“What we hope you'll see is that following that trip, you'll see a more regular and established set of interactions between some of our civilian officials. We haven't achieved that same progress on the mil-mil side yet, but we're going to keep at it,” Kritenbrink said.
Yellen to Beijing
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told MSNBC on Wednesday she plans to visit Beijing soon.
“We need to get to know one another,” Yellen said in an interview. “We need to discuss our disagreements with one another so that we don’t have misunderstandings, don’t misunderstand one another’s intentions.”
Taiwan Straits
At the same time, China is putting military pressure on Taiwan, seeking to coerce the democratically controlled island into unifying with the communist mainland, the assistant secretary said.
“Taiwan was one of the key issues that was discussed in Beijing during Secretary Blinken's trip,” he said.
“We see increasing steps by the PRC that are putting pressure and the use of coercion directed at Taiwan. We're concerned about that. We're concerned about the risks that poses to upending the cross strait status quo.”
Taiwan is preparing to hold a presidential election in January, making this a “sensitive” time, Kritenbrink said. “It's incumbent upon all parties to to act responsibly in this period.”
Nvidia chips
The Biden administration is considering new restrictions on exports of artificial-intelligence chips to China, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
The Commerce Department could act next month to stop the shipments of advanced chips made by Nvidia and others to China, according to the report.
Nvidia CFO Colette Kress warned the restrictions would “result in a permanent loss of opportunities for the US industry to compete and lead in one of the world’s largest markets,” and would have an “impact on our future business and financial results.”
— William Roberts