US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel has said China needs to clarify its sovereignty claims in accordance with international law.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel.

In his papers presented at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on US-China relations on June 26, Daniel Russel noted that the United States has important interests at stake in the South China and East China seas.

The US diplomat stressed that in the Asia-Pacific region, Beijing’s neighbors are understandably alarmed by China’s increasingly coercive efforts to assert and enforce its claims in the South China and East China Seas. A pattern of unilateral Chinese actions in sensitive and disputed areas is raising tensions and damaging China’s international standing. China as a strong and rising power should hold itself to a high standard of behavior; to willfully disregard diplomatic and other peaceful ways of dealing with disagreements and disputes in favor of economic or physical coercion is destabilizing and dangerous.

Daniel Russel called on countries, including China to manage or settle claims through peaceful, diplomatic means, citing that the Philippines and Indonesia have just done so in connection with their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) boundary. Disputes can also be addressed through third-party dispute resolution processes. Where parties’ rights under treaties may be affected, some treaties provide for third-party dispute settlement, as is the case of the Law of the Sea Convention, an avenue pursued by the Philippines in an arbitration with China currently being considered by an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under that treaty.

The United States and the international community oppose the use or the threat of force to try to advance a claim, and view such actions as having no effect in strengthening the legitimacy of China’s claims.

These issues should be decided on the basis of the merits of China’s and other claimants’ legal claims and adherence to international law and norms, not the strength of their militaries and law enforcement ships or the size of their economies.

He added that US Secretary of State John Kerry will attend the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Myanmar in August and will have intensive discussions on a number of confidence building measures, crisis prevention solutions, setting up a hotline and dealing with unexpected incidents.

At the hearing, Professor of Politics and International Affairs from Princeton University Aaron L.Friedberg said that in the past five years China has used stronger, more strident language and more assertive, and at times, forceful actions to assert its claims to control the waters and air space off its eastern seaboard.

Professor of Politics and International Affairs from Princeton University Aaron L.Friedberg .

“Chinese spokesmen have sought to deny that any shift has taken place, or to explain those changes that have occurred as mere reactions to the behavior of others. With the passage of time such claims have become increasingly difficult to sustain. Examples of China’s growing assertiveness continue to multiply.

The most recent include Beijing’s unilateral declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone that covers Japanese‐controlled islands in the East China Sea in November of last year, the deliberate near‐collision of a PLAN vessel with the US Navy cruiser Cowpens in December and, in the past two months, the deployment of oil rigs and a small armada of naval and maritime patrol vessels into waters claimed by Vietnam.” Friedberg said.

According to Mr Friedberg, over the last two decades China has sought opportunities to enhance their country’s influence and strengthen its position, while simultaneously attempting to erode and constrict those of the United States. Beijing’s recent behavior suggests an adjustment in tactics and timelines rather than a fundamental shift in strategy. China is pushing harder to achieve its long‐standing goals.

In addition to advancing its claims to control most of the water and resources off its coasts, it is using calibrated threats in an attempt to intimidate its neighbors, demonstrate the inadequacy of US security guarantees, and, if possible, to drive wedges between the United States and some of its regional friends and allies. China’s increased assertiveness reflects a mix of arrogance and insecurity. Following the onset of the global financial crisis, many Chinese analysts and policy makers concluded that the United States had entered into a period of unexpectedly rapid decline in its relative power and influence.

With their country’s fortunes seemingly on the rise, some argued that the time had come for China, if not to abandon “hiding and biding,” then at least to adopt a more forward‐leaning posture in its dealings with the rest of the world. Chinese planners appear to have concluded that, at least for the next several years, the US will continue to be strategically preoccupied and fiscally constrained. If it plays its cards right during this period, China can “create facts” and consolidate its position.

“China’s recent actions are deliberately dangerous. Its leaders are manipulating risk or they are knowingly creating hazardous situations in the hope that others will back down. Even if it is not intended to do so, such behavior could easily lead to confrontation and escalation. In the long run, China’s assertiveness could also turn out to be counterproductive and even self‐defeating. If its Asian nations respond by increasing their own capabilities and working more closely with one another and with the United States they may be able to block Beijing’s initiatives and balance its power. But such an outcome is not automatic or inevitable.

In the absence of an effective American response, China may yet be able to successfully pursue a divide and conquer strategy: intimidating some of its neighbors into acquiescence while isolating and demoralizing others. Indeed, this appears to be precisely what Beijing is now trying to do: reaching out to Washington and proclaiming its desire to form a “new type great power relationship” with the United States, while at the same time ratcheting up pressure on key targets, especially US allies Japan and the Philippines, as well as Vietnam”, said Professor Friedberg.

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