Outdated political mindset

Not only has the US' pivot to the Asia-Pacific weighted the regional security balance against China, and in so doing presented it with a potential security threat on its doorstep, it has also emboldened and encouraged those countries that have territorial disputes with China not to negotiate and to carry out a strategy of death by a thousand cuts.

Rather than being an expression of "gluttonous, naked aggression", the nine-dash line is an expression of China's (the mainland and Taiwan's) historical claims in the South China Sea, which predate the People's Republic and stretch back through the Republic of China to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and earlier.

However, rather than negotiate in good faith, the Philippines and Vietnam have chosen instead to declare their "sovereignty" through aggressive actions. Philippine armed forces have repeatedly placed disputed islands under military occupation, and troops have been stationed on a military ship that the Philippines beached on a disputed shoal with the aim of making it a permanent fixture. Vietnam, for its part, has been busy selling oil and gas exploration blocks in disputed parts of the South China Sea, and engaged in reckless acts to disrupt the operations of China's drilling rig in waters off Zhongjian Island - China's first drilling rig.

The US likes to claim its only interest in the South China Sea is protecting freedom of navigation. "This is our chance to let China understand that they should not question American resolve when it comes to the freedom of navigation, the freedom of trade and commerce, in the South China Sea," Roger's said at Thursday's CSIS conference.

But there are a few things to note about this, first China isn't interfering with international navigation in the South China Sea and says it does not intend to in the future. Indeed, why should it, when its economy is dependent on trade? China's position is clear and remains consistent, navigation through territorial sea should be peaceful and comply with the rights of the coastal state and respect that state's sovereign rights and interests. What the US is trying to protect under the flag of freedom of navigation is actually surveillance by US ships and aircraft near the Chinese coast and, as Scot Marciel, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told a US Senate Committee in 2009, defending US oil companies that are operating in the region.

Likewise in the East China Sea, Japan has taken the opportunity presented by the US' decision to contain China to consolidate its de facto administration of the Diaoyu Islands by "nationalizing' some of them.

The US' determination to strengthen its position in Asia and its desire to maintain an uneasy Cold War-like peace of containment was clearly shown by President Barack Obama's visit to the region in April. His trip to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, came at a time of heightened tensions and was a clear indication that the US is only paying lip service to the notion that it is willing to engage with China on an equal footing. He reassured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the disputed islands in the East China Sea were covered by the two countries' security treaty; and prior to his arrival in Manila the White House announced the US and the Philippines were entering into a new defense pact that allows for more US troops to be stationed in the country.

As long as the US persists with its anti-China alliances and refuses to change its security structure to accommodate China's rise, all its talk of trying to improve relations with China is just empty words.

The author is a writer with China Daily. hannayrichards@chinadaily.com.cn

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