Disputes over territory in the South China Sea are causing countries in the region to increase their demand for an American security presence, the US defence chief said on Sunday.
Disputes over territory in the South China Sea are causing countries in the region to increase their demand for an American security presence, the US defence chief said on Sunday.
A US warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of one of China’s man-made islands in South China Sea on Tuesday in the most significant US challenge yet to territorial limits Beijing claims around the Spratly archipelago.
The move triggered an angry rebuke from Beijing and a warning that a minor incident in the area, which is one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, could spark war if the United States did not stop what it called “provocative acts”.
“The attention to disputed claims in the South China Sea, the prominence of those disputes, is having the effect of causing many countries in the region to want to intensify their security cooperation with the United States,” US defence secretary Ash Carter told reporters on his way to South Korea.
Mr Carter said discussions at an upcoming defence summit in Malaysia would include developments in the South China Sea, “the most notable of which in the last year has been the unprecedented rate of dredging and military activity by China.”
Mr Carter is due to arrive in Seoul later on Sunday and is scheduled to hold talks with South Korea’s defence chief on Monday, focused on the allies’ response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
He later flies to Malaysia for the meeting of Southeast Asia defence ministers, which China’s defence minister Chang Wanquan is also due to attend.
Meanwhile, the leaders of South Korea, China and Japan said Sunday they were willing to work together again for regional trade and security after setting aside historical animosities with their first summit talks in more than three years.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese and Japanese Premiers Li Keqiang and Shinzo Abe discussed a wide range of topics, from free trade to the threat of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, during a 90-minute sit down in Seoul.
There was no substantive breakthrough, with the meeting seen more as a symbolic statement of intent by Northeast Asia’s three largest economies to mend strained ties.
“We shared the view that trilateral cooperation has been completely restored on the occasion of this summit,” the leaders said in a lengthy joint statement.
They also agreed to put the three-way summits back on an annual footing, with the next to be held in Japan in 2016.
The three countries began holding annual summits seven years ago, but the souring of Japan’s relations with its two neighbours over issues dating back to World War II triggered a lengthy hiatus after the last one in 2012.
The focus on Sunday was very much on economic ties, with China especially keen to strengthen trade links as it tries to inject fresh momentum into its slowing economy.
The joint statement included a commitment to sealing a trilateral free-trade agreement that would provide a counterpoint to the new US-led Pacific trade pact of which China and South Korea are not members.
Also high on the agenda was North Korea, whose nuclear weapons ambitions worry — and threaten — all three countries, including China.
The leaders reaffirmed their “firm opposition” to the development of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.
