'The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire.' US hardens stance against China's South China Sea resource claims
Vowing support for Southeast Asian nations, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Chinese claims to offshore resources across most of the contentious sea are"completely unlawful."
"We are making clear: Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday. "America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law," Pompeo said.
Beijing claims the majority of the South China Sea through the so-called nine-dash line, a delineation based on maps from the 1940s when the Republic of China snapped up islands from Japanese control. The United States as a result now rejects Beijing's claims in the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, Lucania Shoals off Malaysia, waters considered in Brunei's exclusive economic zone, and Natuna Besar off Indonesia, Pompeo said.
Trump has also strongly criticised China for not doing more to stop the coronavirus pandemic, news of which was initially suppressed when it emerged in Wuhan late last year.
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