US official hits China maritime ‘bullying’
By AP (The Philippine Star) | Updated June 22, 2013
WASHINGTON – The nominee to become the top US diplomat in East Asia delivered pointed comments about China in his confirmation hearing Thursday, saying there’s no place for “coercion and bullying” in the region’s seas.
Danny Russel told a Senate panel that he will do everything in his power to “lower the temperature” in territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas and push claimants, including China, toward diplomacy.
He also said it was “unacceptable” for China to demand only bilateral negotiations with the other claimants, and voiced strong US support for efforts by Southeast Asia to negotiate as a bloc and frame a “code of conduct” to manage the disputes – an issue to be taken up at regional security talks in Brunei later this month.
Russel is currently White House senior director for Asian affairs. He is nominee to become assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, replacing Kurt Campbell, who resigned in February to enter business.
Russel is a 28-year career diplomat, less ebullient than Campbell, with long experience in Japan and Korea. His association with Asia began in his 20s when he spent three years studying martial arts in Japan.
He has played a central role in the Obama administration’s strategic “pivot” to Asia that’s seen the US stake out a diplomatic position on maritime issues that has irked Beijing, with Washington saying it has a national interest in the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea.
Six governments have overlapping claims to tiny reefs and islands across those resource-rich waters, with China claiming it has sovereignty over virtually all of it. While the US itself is not a claimant, it says it has a stake in the freedom of navigation in its busy sea lanes, which are crucial to world trade.
“I certainly will do everything in my power to try to lower the temperature, push claimants including China into a diplomatic track and continue to warn them that the region in which China will flourish is a region of law, a region of order and a region of respect for neighbors, not one in which there is space for coercion and bullying,” Russel said.
He said that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have raised the issue of China’s behavior on the seas with its leaders, and the Chinese “are in no doubt that America stands by our allies.”
The most volatile maritime disputes involving China in the past couple of years have involved US treaty allies, the Philippines and Japan – nations whom Beijing has blamed for triggering tensions.
While acknowledging US-China competition, Russel said the US supports the rise of China that is stable, prosperous and abides by international rules and norms. He said the US seeks “practical cooperation” that benefits both countries and the region.
He said positive cooperation with China would be “essential” in getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.
Russel confirmed that he has visited Pyongyang during his time at the White House. He said helping to achieve a halt or rollback in the North’s atomic program would be a top priority if he becomes assistant secretary of state.
The full Senate must confirm his appointment.
China slams ‘illegal occupation’ of reef
China condemned yesterday what it called the “illegal occupation” of a disputed coral reef by the Philippines, and vowed to protect its sovereignty after Manila moved new soldiers and supplies to the remote location.
The Second Thomas shoal, known in the Philippines as Ayungin Reef and in China as the Ren’ai Reef, is at the center of the latest territorial dispute between Beijing and Manila. Both countries have been locked in a decades-old territorial squabble.
The Philippines is accusing China of encroachment after three Chinese ships, including a naval frigate, converged just five nautical miles (nine kilometers) from an old transport ship that Manila ran aground on a reef in 1999 to mark its territory.
“China’s determination to safeguard its national sovereignty is resolute and unwavering and we will never accept any form of illegal occupation of the Ren’ai Reef by the Philippines,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular briefing.
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista told reporters on Wednesday the military had brought in a fresh team to replace soldiers stationed on the wrecked ship on the reef and replenished their supplies, including food, water and fuel.
China’s claims over islands, reefs and atolls in resource-rich waters off its south coast and to the east of mainland Southeast Asia have set it directly against Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay claim to parts.
The Second Thomas Shoal, a strategic gateway to Recto (Reed) Bank, believed to be rich in oil and natural gas, is one of several possible flashpoints in the South China Sea that could force the US to intervene in defense of its Southeast Asian allies.
US official hits China maritime