US will back nations that say Beijing violated their South China Sea claims, Pompeo says

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the United States will support countries that believe China has violated their maritime claims in the South China Sea but suggested it would do so through diplomatic rather than military means.

“We will support countries all across the world who recognise that China has violated their legal territorial claims as well – or maritime claims as well,” Pompeo told reporters.

“We will go provide them the assistance we can, whether that’s in multilateral bodies, whether that’s in Asean, whether that’s through legal responses, we will use all the tools we can,” he said at a news conference, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The United States on Monday rejected China’s claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, drawing criticism from China which said the US position raised tension in the region, highlighting an increasingly testy relationship.

Monday’s statement reflected the first time the United States had taken the position that China’s claims to the South China sea were “completely unlawful”.

The United States has long opposed China’s expansive territorial claims on the South China Sea, sending warships regularly through the strategic waterway to demonstrate freedom of navigation there. Monday’s comments reflect a harsher tone.

China claims 90 per cent of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of it.

On Wednesday, Vietnam’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Le Thi Thu Hang, said in response to the hardened US rhetoric on the region that Vietnam welcomed any views on the South China Sea that were in accordance with international law.

“Peace, stability, cooperation and development in the South China Sea are the common aspirations and goals of countries in the region and the international community.”

Malaysia on Thursday called for a peaceful resolution to the South China Sea disputes while maintaining its firm stance in defending its sovereign rights over its territory in the highly contentious waters.

“Malaysia maintains its position that all parties must work together to ensure peace, security and stability in the South China Sea,” Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement.

“Matters relating to the South China Sea must be resolved peacefully based on the universally recognised principles of international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982,” he added.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said his country would continue to advocate “very strongly” for the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

“Australia will continue to adopt a very consistent position,” Morrison told a media briefing in Canberra when asked if the country supported the US position.

Beijing should change tack on South China Sea to avoid US clash: analyst

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague ruled against China and in the Philippines’ favour on the issue of territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Philippines presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday said “we have not waived, nor have we relinquished these rights”.

“Unfortunately, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling has no way of being enforced by the body which rendered it, so we must look to other means to resolve the dispute,” he said.

“We agree to disagree on the arbitral tribunal ruling and will proceed with our bilateral relations with China, especially on matters related to trade and the economy.”