U.S. President Joe Biden, heart left, attends a state luncheon hosted by Vietnam’s President Vo Van Thuong, heart proper, on the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, on September 11, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP
The United States and Vietnam warned on Monday towards the “threat or use of force” within the disputed South China Sea, days after the most recent conflict involving Chinese vessels.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong mentioned the competing claims on the strategic waterway should be settled underneath worldwide norms.
Beijing claims nearly the complete sea, by means of which trillions of {dollars} in commerce passes yearly, and has ignored a world court docket ruling that its assertion has no authorized foundation.
“The leaders underscored their unwavering support for the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, without the threat or use of force,” Mr. Biden and Mr. Trong mentioned in a joint assertion.
They additionally known as for “freedom of navigation and overflight and unimpeded lawful commerce in the South China Sea”.
The assertion got here a day after Mr. Biden and Mr. Trong struck a deal to deepen cooperation, broadly seen as a option to counter China’s rising assertiveness within the area.
Washington is at loggerheads with Beijing on a variety of points together with commerce, safety, human rights and local weather change and is seeking to enhance its community of allies to counter Chinese affect.
Vietnam, which fought a warfare with China between 1979 and 1988, is cautious of its large northern neighbour, and is one in every of a handful of nations with claims on the various islets and outcrops that dot the South China Sea.
Last week the Philippines accused Chinese Coast Guard and “militia” boats of harassing two of its personal coast guard vessels as they took provides to Filipino troops on the Second Thomas Shoal.
The Philippine Navy intentionally grounded an previous ship on the shoal in 1999 to test China’s advance within the waters.
China deploys a whole lot of vessels to patrol the South China Sea and swarm reefs.
The Philippines, a longtime U.S. ally, has outposts on 9 reefs and islands within the Spratly Islands — which Vietnam additionally claims together with the Paracel Islands.
Manila says Chinese coast guard and navy ships routinely block or shadow Philippine boats within the contested waters.
Tensions between Manila and Beijing flared final month when China Coast Guard vessels used water cannon towards a Philippine resupply mission to the reef, stopping one of many boats from delivering its cargo.
Source: www.thehindu.com
