Senator urges US action on West Philippine Sea dispute

Soldiers stationed in the Philippine-claimed Kalayaan Island in the contested Spratlys group of islands, dry fish in an open field that also serves as a landing strip for Philippine Air Force planes. ERNIE U. SARMIENTO/Inquirer File Photo

WASHINGTON—The United States needs to condemn China’s use of force and push for multilateral negotiations to resolve territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) that have raised tensions in the region, a US senator said Monday.

Vietnam fired live artillery rounds Monday off its central coast in naval drills staged after alleging that Chinese boats disrupted oil and gas exploration. A similar dispute flared last week between China and the Philippines.

The United States irked China last year by asserting that Washington had a national security interest in the peaceful resolution of disputes in the West Philippine Sea, resource-rich waters where China has competing claims with several nations and territories and rejects outside interference. It maintains that the disputes should be handled bilaterally.

Senator Jim Webb, a Democrat who chairs the Senate subcommittee overseeing American policy toward east Asia, said Vietnam and other countries were watching whether “we are going to back up those words with substantive action.”

“That does not mean military confrontation, per se, but we have to make a clear signal,” he told a Washington seminar organized by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Webb and Senator James Inhofe, ranking Republican on the subcommittee, introduced a Senate resolution Monday condemning China’s actions. It supports continued operations by US forces to defend freedom of navigation in the West Philippine Sea and urges the United States to facilitate a multilateral process to settle the territorial disputes.

The US diplomatic intervention last year was welcomed by countries in the region, most notably Vietnam, which has a historic rivalry with China, against which it fought a bloody border war in 1979.

The latest spat between the communist-led countries has prompted rare protests in Vietnam, which says Chinese boats cut a cable attached to a vessel conducting a seismic survey off its coast May 26 and hindered operations of another vessel June 9. For its part, China accuses Vietnam of illegally entering its waters and putting fishermen’s lives at risk. It has not commented on Vietnam’s naval drills.

Webb described China’s actions as a clear interference in “proper activities by Vietnam.”

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Friday that the recent incidents in the West Philippine Sea had raised concerns about maritime security. He urged a collaborative diplomatic process to resolve the territorial disputes, saying that shows of force only served to raise tensions further.