Senior officials in charge of East Asia and Pacific of the US Department of State and Department of Defense held a hearing on May 13 to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the East Sea issue.
US senators expressed their deep concerns over China’s construction activities of differing scope and degree in the East Sea and urged the Obama’s administration to make tougher reaction to China’s moves.
In his opening speech at the hearing, Assistant Secretary Daniel Russel said the East Sea, known as the South China Sea in China, plays a key role in the global and regional trading. So any territorial disputes here should be resolved peacefully and based on international law.
Russel said, "According to international law, China’s construction of artificial features and airstrips enabling to accommodate military airplanes in the waters does not mean that China can define its territory there. Its actions will not only damage the maritime ecosystem, but also run counter to Beijing’s commitment to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea".
David Shear, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, said the US has been conducting measures to maintain regional security and stability by deterring provocative conduct, reducing miscalculation and unintentional conflicts in the East Sea and other places in Asia.
The US will continue to increase its presence in the region, strengthen the relations with allies and partner countries, and support regional governments to improve their maritime security capacity and maritime domain awareness to increase regional transparency and deter further conflict.
David Shear said, "Partner capacity building will continue to be the central to our efforts. We believe that amongst the most important goals is for our partners in the region to be able to pursue their own interests which they haven’t come with us vigorously as soon as possible. That is the medium to long term goal. We are implementing that in particular with Vietnam and Malaysia. We hope we’ll grow our cooperative relationship with Indonesia as well".
Daniel Russel spoke highly of a statement released at April ASEAN Summit in which the bloc’s leaders said China’s move in the East Sea is eroding the region’s trust and harming peace, security, and stability in the East Sea.
Russel called on the US Congress to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to safeguard American security interests and create conditions for the US to encourage other nations to abide by the important document.
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