USA till Kina: ”Sydkinesiska havet inte ert havsimperium”
Världen kommer inte att tillåta att Kina behandlar Sydkinesiska havet som sitt havsimperium, skriver USA:s utrikesminister Mike Pompeo i ett uttalande och avfärdar i princip alla kinesiska anspråk på territoriet.
”Vi tydliggör: Pekings anspråk på havsbaserade resurser i större delen av Sydkinesiska havet är helt olagliga, liksom dess mobbningskampanj för att försöka kontrollera dem”, står det bland annat.
Tidigare har USA:s position varit att den känsliga regionala konflikten mellan Kina och dess mindre grannar ska lösas fredligt genom FN-stödd medling. Att USA nu kliver rakt in i hetluften innebär troligen en upptrappning av den redan infekterade relationen mellan USA och Kina, skriver AP.
Fördjupning i konflikten
bakgrund
Konflikterna i Sydkinesiska havet
Wikipedia (en)
The South China Sea disputes involve both island and maritime claims among several sovereign states within the region, namely Brunei, the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan), Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. An estimated US$3.37 trillion worth of global trade passes through the South China Sea annually, which accounts for a third of the global maritime trade. 80 percent of China's energy imports and 39.5 percent of China's total trade passes through the South China Sea.The disputes include the islands, reefs, banks, and other features of the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Scarborough Shoal, and various boundaries in the Gulf of Tonkin. There are further disputes, including the waters near the Indonesian Natuna Islands, which many do not regard as part of the South China Sea. Claimant states are interested in retaining or acquiring the rights to fishing stocks, the exploration and potential exploitation of crude oil and natural gas in the seabed of various parts of the South China Sea, and the strategic control of important shipping lanes.
Since 2013, the People's Republic of China has resorted to island building in the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands region. These actions have been met with a wide international condemnation, and since 2015 the United States and other states such as France and the United Kingdom have conducted freedom of navigation operations (FONOP) in the region. In July 2016, an arbitration tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) ruled against the PRC's maritime claims in Philippines v. China. The tribunal did not rule on the ownership of the islands or delimit maritime boundaries. The People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) stated that they did not recognize the tribunal and insisted that the matter should be resolved through bilateral negotiations with other claimants.
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