Pompeo welcomes E3 countries' rejection of Beijing's maritime claims in South China Sea

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed the rejection of Beijing’s maritime claims in the South China Sea by Britain, France, and Germany. Pompeo called on China to adhere to international norms after the European allies submitted a joint note at the UN highlighting China’s non-compliance with provisions under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The disputes involve both island and maritime claims by several countries in the region including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam as against China’s claim on the basis of the nine-dash line map. The strategic region of the South China Sea is vital to global trade routes but it clashes with China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

PCA ruling

In 2016, the Philippines won at The Hague in which the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled against most of Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea. Citing the Philippines’ win at the international tribunal, the E3 countries rejected China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. They added that all maritime claims in the highly-contested waters should be peacefully resolved in accordance with the principles and rules of UNCLOS.

“This position is reaffirmed without prejudice to competing claims of coastal states over disputed territorial sovereignty to naturally formed land features and to areas of the continental shelf in the South China Sea on which France, Germany and the United Kingdom take no position,” the note read.

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The United States has deemed Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea as “completely unlawful”. US State Secretary Mike Pompeo said in July that Beijing has offered no coherent legal basis for its “Nine-Dashed Line” claim in the South China Sea since formally announcing it in 2009. 

Japan, India, Australia and the United States are planning to hold QUAD security dialogue in early October. QUAD is an informal strategic forum to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and check China’s expansionist efforts in the region. Japanese foreign affairs chief Toshimitsu Motegi, US State Secretary Mike Pompeo, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, and Australian foreign minister Marise Payne will hold talks.

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