President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, June, 2, 2015, before presenting the Medal of Honor posthumously to Army Sgt. William Shemin and Army Pvt. Henry Johnson during a ceremony. Obama on Monday weighed in on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, urging regional powers, particularly China, to respect the law and stop “throwing elbows.” AP PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH
WASHINGTON—US President Barack Obama on Monday weighed in on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, urging regional powers, particularly China, to respect the law and stop “throwing elbows.”
As several Asian regional powers face off over maritime borders, Obama warned about disregard for existing laws and a move away from established ways of resolving disputes.
“If you start losing that approach, and suddenly conflicts arise and claims are made based on how big the country is or how powerful its Navy is instead of based on law, then I think Asia will be less prosperous and the Pacific region will be less prosperous,” he said.
The United States does not hold any territorial claims in the South China Sea, Obama added. But as a “Pacific power,” Washington has vocally called on Beijing and other countries to end reclamation.
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The Obama administration has vowed to continue sending military aircraft and ships to the tense region to protect navigation rights.
“We think that land reclamation, aggressive actions by any party in that area are counterproductive,” said Obama.
Turning to China directly, Obama adopted a boxing metaphor, saying “it may be that some of their claims are legitimate, but they shouldn’t just try to establish that based on throwing elbows and pushing people out of the way.”
In Hanoi, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday discussed halting land reclamation in the South China Sea with his Vietnamese counterpart in talks focused on maritime security.
The meeting came after the United States on Saturday called for an immediate end to all such work in the disputed waters where both Vietnam and Beijing have reclaimed land.
“The US and Vietnam are working together to ensure peace and stability in this region and beyond,” Carter told reporters at a press conference in Hanoi following “in-depth” talks on regional maritime disputes with Vietnamese Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh.
Thanh did not reveal Hanoi’s position on the US call to halt reclamation but insisted its activities were not an attempt at expansion.
“We have some activities to enhance and consolidate the islands that are under our sovereignty,” Thanh told reporters. “We do not expand the islands, we just consolidate to prevent erosion because of waves.”
He added that Vietnam has soldiers stationed on its 21 islands and reefs.
On Saturday at a high-level defense dialogue in Singapore, Carter called for “an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by all claimants” in the South China Sea, adding the United States opposed “any further militarization of disputed features.”
Vietnam has previously admitted carrying out reclamation on islands in the disputed waters but the scale of the work is dwarfed by that of Beijing.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea and is locked in territorial disputes with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan as well as Vietnam.
Carter also pledged $18 million on Monday to help Vietnam buy US-made Metal Shark patrol boats, hailing progress in a bilateral relationship that marks two decades this year since the United States and Vietnam normalized ties in 1995.
Carter, in Vietnam as part of a 11-day trip to Asia, visited a Navy headquarters and toured a Coast Guard vessel on Sunday.
The former wartime foes also discussed cooperation to ease the legacy of war in Vietnam on Monday, including cleaning up Agent Orange dioxin residue.
Originally posted: 7:25 AM | Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015
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