Letters | South China Sea: why US rejection of China’s nine-dash line rings false

Name: Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions
Uploaded: 2020-07-23T22:30:11.000Z
Duration: 2 min 32 s
Description: Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions

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An E-2D Advanced Hawkeye flies past the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan during a drill in the South China Sea on July 6. Photo: EPA-EFE

Letters

Published: 6:30am, 24 Jul 2020Updated: 6:30am, 24 Jul 2020

Contrary to the argument in Brian Klein’s opinion article, “Campaign music” (July 20), the US’ new position that Beijing’s South China Sea claims are invalid is totally phoney. The United States had no objection to nationalist China’s 1947 promulgation of the original 11-dash line. That was because China was just recently a World War II ally. Vietnam was still part of French Indochina, and the US had wanted the Western powers to decolonise.

Furthermore, the US never signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), so it is a hypocrite for raising the issue. The US even ignored the International Court of Justice in 1986 when the latter ruled that Washington should stop supplying weapons to anti-communist guerillas in Nicaragua and stop mining Nicaragua’s harbours. Americans have no business preaching to the world.

UNCLOS came into existence in the 1980s, decades after the 11-dash line was promulgated. UNCLOS was not intended to overturn legitimate sovereign rights, including those of China.

The US’ real aim is to contain China’s limited sea-based nuclear deterrent, by flooding the South China Sea with US naval ships and anti-submarine spy planes. Inciting regional opposition to China creates the perfect cover to militarise the South China Sea.

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Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions

If the US were really a decent, objective arbiter, it would be making threatening military moves against Israel for illegal expansion in the West Bank and Gaza. But again, Israel is an ally and the US position depends on whether a country is an ally. The US has no credibility.

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.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Letters | South China Sea: why US rejection of China’s nine-dash line rings false

Letters | South China Sea: why US rejection of China’s nine-dash line rings false