Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday played down tension with China over the East China Sea, saying US efforts to strengthen maritime security in South East Asia were part of a normal process to help allies defend them-selves better.
Kerry said maritime disputes between countries should be resolved peacefully through arbitration and the United States would speak out when a country, such as China, took unilateral action that raised the potential for conflict.
The United States has said it does not recognise an air defence zone imposed by Beijing amid friction with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
China is also locked in territorial rows with South East Asian nations over swathes of the South China Sea. Beijing has said it might set up a similar air defence zone there. A day after the United States gave $32.5 million to stiffen maritime security in South East Asia, the bulk of it for Vietnam, Kerry said the United States would provide $40 million to the Philippines over three years to build its capacity to police the South China Sea.
“We don’t view the situation as one of rising tensions and we don’t want rising tensions,” Kerry told a news conference with his Philippine counterpart Albert del Rosario.
Kerry said the United States had not taken a position on any claims by countries in disputed seas but did not agree with the way China has responded in the dispute with Japan. “We are not approaching this with any particular view towards China, except to say when China makes a unilateral move, we will state our position and make clear what we agree and disagree with,” Kerry said.
Beijing’s assertion of sovereignty over the South China Sea has set it directly against Vietnam and the Philippines – the two countries Kerry is visiting – while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay claim to other parts of the sea, making it one of Asia’s biggest potential trouble spots.
Today, Kerry will travel to Tacloban in the central Philippines, the epicentre of super typhoon Haiyan, which decimated towns and villages on November 8.
The storm has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced four million.