VIENTIANE: The top diplomats of China and the US sparred on Saturday over the South China Sea, where Beijing is locked in a territorial dispute with US treaty ally the Philippines.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met on the sidelines of a foreign ministers meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Laos.

The US hailed the meeting as “open and productive,” after Blinken had criticised Beijing’s “escalatory and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea. Chinese and Filipino ships have clashed in the waterway, fuelling fears of a conflict that could drag in the US due to its mutual defence treaty with Manila.

The US should “refrain from fanning the flames, stirring up trouble and undermining stability at sea,” Wang said at the meeting, according to a foreign ministry statement.

During the meeting, which a State Department official said lasted one hour and twenty minutes, Blinken also raised US concerns over China’s support for Russia as it wages war in Ukraine. The two had had not arranged another meeting.

Stormy seas

Beijing claims the South China Sea — through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually — almost in its entirety despite an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

According to a Chinese foreign ministry statement released later, Wang said the deal was a “temporary arrangement... to manage the situation,” without giving details.

On Friday, Wang called on the Philippines to “honour its commitments” under the deal rather than “backtracking or creating complications”, warning Beijing would “respond resolutely” to any violation.

Blinken’s stop in Laos is part of a multi-nation Asia visit to reinforce regional ties in the face of Beijing’s growing assertiveness, including in the South China Sea, and its deepening ties with Moscow.

He arrived in Laos two days after the foreign ministers of China and Russia met with the 10-nation Asean bloc.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2024