Reuters, Washington :
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will leave China “in absolutely no doubt” about Washington’s commitment to ensuring freedom of navigation and flight in the South China Sea when he visits Beijing this weekend, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday.
Setting the scene for what could be contentious encounters with Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping, the official said Kerry would warn that China’s land reclamation work in contested waters could have negative consequences for regional stability – and for relations with the United States.
On Tuesday, a U.S. official said the Pentagon was considering sending military aircraft and ships to assert freedom of navigation around rapidly growing Chinese-made artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea.
China’s Foreign Ministry responded by saying that Beijing was “extremely concerned” and demanded clarification.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense David Shear told a Senate hearing the United States had right of passage in areas claimed by China. “We are actively assessing the military implications of land reclamation and are committed to taking effective and appropriate action,” he said, but gave no details.
Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the United States, responded by warning Washington not to interfere in the South China Sea dispute and rebuked it for “double standards” in its criticism of Beijing, state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday.
“Just who is creating tensions in the South China Sea?” Cui was quoted as saying. “In the past few years, the United States has intervened in such a high-profile way. Is that to stabilize the situation or to further mess it up? The facts are out there.”
Cui, in an interview with Chinese media in the United States on Wednesday, noted that some countries had already begun reclaiming land on reefs that Beijing says belong to China, but the United States had not singled them out.
On the Pentagon’s plan to send military aircraft and ships to the South China Sea, Cui “stressed that many things in the world cannot rely on a show of force to solve them and that the knee-jerk ‘Cold War’ mentality to use force is outdated”.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will leave China “in absolutely no doubt” about Washington’s commitment to ensuring freedom of navigation and flight in the South China Sea when he visits Beijing this weekend, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday.
Setting the scene for what could be contentious encounters with Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping, the official said Kerry would warn that China’s land reclamation work in contested waters could have negative consequences for regional stability – and for relations with the United States.
On Tuesday, a U.S. official said the Pentagon was considering sending military aircraft and ships to assert freedom of navigation around rapidly growing Chinese-made artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea.
China’s Foreign Ministry responded by saying that Beijing was “extremely concerned” and demanded clarification.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense David Shear told a Senate hearing the United States had right of passage in areas claimed by China. “We are actively assessing the military implications of land reclamation and are committed to taking effective and appropriate action,” he said, but gave no details.
Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the United States, responded by warning Washington not to interfere in the South China Sea dispute and rebuked it for “double standards” in its criticism of Beijing, state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday.
“Just who is creating tensions in the South China Sea?” Cui was quoted as saying. “In the past few years, the United States has intervened in such a high-profile way. Is that to stabilize the situation or to further mess it up? The facts are out there.”
Cui, in an interview with Chinese media in the United States on Wednesday, noted that some countries had already begun reclaiming land on reefs that Beijing says belong to China, but the United States had not singled them out.
On the Pentagon’s plan to send military aircraft and ships to the South China Sea, Cui “stressed that many things in the world cannot rely on a show of force to solve them and that the knee-jerk ‘Cold War’ mentality to use force is outdated”.
