Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1933448/xi-obama-meeting-eased-tensions-over-south-china-sea
China/ Diplomacy

Xi-Obama meeting eased tensions over South China Sea

Barack Obama and President Xi pictured during their talks in Washington last week. Photo: Xinhua

President Xi Jinping’s meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington last week helped ease tensions over disputes in the South China Sea, state media yesterday quoted China’s foreign minister as saying.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, where about US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims.

“The Americans have said they will not take sides, so it should not be a problem for the China-US relationship,” China Daily quoted Foreign Minister Wang Yi as saying. “We are confident about the steady development of the China-US relationship this year, and that will continue smoothly into the next [US presidential] term.”

The two leaders met on Thursday on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington amid heightened tension over the South China Sea and the possible US deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system in South Korea.

But Chinese analysts expressed doubts over the power of the presidential talks to resolve the tensions, especially with the US Navy reportedly planning another passage through the disputed waters early this month.

The passage is expected to take US naval vessels near contested islands in what would be the third in a series of challenges that have drawn sharp rebukes from China.

“The US announcement of the patrol on the second day after the bilateral talks could mean that two sides have not reached an agreement,” Renmin University international relations professor Wang Yiwei said.

“China’s construction work in the South China Sea has made the US worried that its military dominance in the region is fading.”

Wang Yong, a professor of international studies at Peking University, said tensions might continue to rise ahead of an upcoming ruling on a territorial dispute by an international court.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague is expected to make a final decision, possibly this month or in May, on a case lodged by the Philippines against China.

Wang Yong also said anti-China sentiment might have run high in the US elections but it would not have a major impact on Sino-US relations.

“The Obama administration has been under pressure from the conservatives and hardliners, hence the gesture [of the patrol]. But the impact of candidates playing the ‘China card’ this year has not been obvious,” he said.

Wang Yiwei said the existing communication mechanism between the US and China would stop tensions from escalating. Those mechanisms included the 2014 memorandum of understanding on unplanned encounters at sea and in the air.

Additional reporting by Reuters