China meets with Asean diplomats to propose resuming South China Sea talks

Name: Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions
Uploaded: 2020-08-24T00:00:09.000Z
Duration: 2 min 32 s
Description: Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions

Beijing conveys its concerns about the rising risk of conflict over the contested waters

Discussion follows US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement of a harder line concerning China’s ‘unlawful’ claims

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A People’s Liberation Army vessel firing cannons and torpedoes in a drill in the South China Sea earlier this month. Photo: Weibo

Catherine Wong

Published: 8:00am, 24 Aug 2020Updated: 10:38am, 24 Aug 2020

Three weeks after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced his country’s new position on the South China Sea, Beijing called diplomats from 10 Southeast Asian countries together for a meeting to convey its worries about the rising risk for conflict over the contested waters.

During the meeting in Beijing in early August, a Chinese official in charge of maritime and boundary affairs expressed Beijing’s concerns for the “high risk” from military activities by “non-regional countries”, phrasing China often uses when discussing the US role in Asia.

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

The Chinese official called on members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to work with Beijing. The official said they should resume the negotiations for a code of conduct for the South China Sea as soon as possible “to show some progress”, and that China did not want the process to be “hijacked” by countries which are not part of the negotiation, said people familiar with details of the meeting.

“[The official] didn’t say to whom China wanted to show progress, but it was clear that it is the US,” one of the people said.

Asean diplomats believe the meeting underscores Beijing’s desire to keep its Asian neighbours closer to its side and push Washington out of the picture after the Trump administration signalled a tougher approach against what it calls Beijing’s “unlawful” claims in the South China Sea.