Chinese official takes aim at US over Unclos ‘ulterior motives’
- The US is using the maritime convention to ‘suppress’ others without ratifying the document, vice foreign minister says
- American freedom of navigation operations meant to maintain US maritime hegemony, he says
A senior Chinese official has accused the United States of using an international maritime agreement to suppress “other countries” despite not being a signatory to the convention.
In an interview with state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday, vice foreign minister Xie Feng said the US had “played up the supremacy” of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) out of “ulterior motives”.
“The United States has not ratified the convention so far … it only wants to enjoy the dividends of the convention system, but is unwilling to assume the obligations,” Xie said when asked about US accusations that China “[violated] the convention on multiple occasions”.
The vice foreign minister did not specify whether or how the US had used the convention against China.
02:38
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