Territory - Spratly Islands

Law of the Sea

Apparently losing memory of their often bloody battles against American intervention in South East Asia, ASEAN leaders embraced the US re-entry in the region as they issued a joint communique with US President Barack Obama that called for "freedom of navigation" in the South China Sea. A Chinese FM spokeswoman had earlier expressed opposition to the multilateralisation of the South China Sea disputes. To alleviate China's concerns, the joint communique dropped a draft statement that would oppose the "use or threat of force by any claimant attempting to enforce disputed claims in the South China Sea", although President Obama, at a time when his leadership in the US was in steady decline, somehow found the audacity to declare, "As president, I've made it clear that the US intends to play a leadership role in Asia." After China's FM spokeswoman repeated China's commitment to a "peaceful resolution of the South China Sea disputes", former State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan declared, "I believe, through concerted efforts of concerned countries, the South China Sea can, by all means, be a sea of peace, cooperation and friendship", a hollow slogan that used to be attached to the East China Sea, and look how that turned out between China and Japan!