Obama: China must stop land reclamation in South China Sea

Published November 18, 2015 10:53am

(Updated 5:39 p.m.) US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday China must stop land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea and reaffirmed Washington's commitment to the defense and security of the Philippines, one of the parties to the dispute.

Obama, speaking after a meeting with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Manila, said he looked forward to working with all claimants to the waterway to resolve their disputes.

“We discussed the impact of China’s reclamation and construction activities on regional stability. We agreed on the need for bold steps to lower tensions including pledging to halt further reclamation, new construction, and militarization of disputed areas in the South China Sea,” said Obama.

On Tuesday, Obama visited an American-donated coast guard cutter now owned by the Philippines, one of its closest allies in the region.

In the same briefing, Aquino said that he agreed with Obama that laws on the freedom of navigation at sea should be upheld, a reference to the dispute with China over claims to the South China Sea.

“I take this opportunity to reiterate the Philippines’ view that the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea must be continuously upheld, consistent with international law,” said Aquino.

“President Obama and I likewise had a discussion on maritime security, including on the maritime disputes in the region, and how international law should remain the framework for behavior of all countries and for the peaceful resolution of disputes,” he added.

Recently, the arbitral tribunal took jurisdiction over the Philippines’ case against Beijing’s excessive claims in the South China Sea, parts of which Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea.

Obama said that while the US is not a claimant to the South China Sea territories, the US “fully supports a process in which through international law, these are resolved.”

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said Obama should not get involved in the territorial disputes.

"The United States should stop playing up the South China Sea issue, stop heightening tensions in the South China Sea and stop complicating disputes in the South China Sea," Hong said.

"No country has the right to point fingers at China's construction activities," he added.

‘Rock solid commitment’

Obama also gave the assurance that the US has a “rock solid commitment to the defense of the Philippines” as the validity of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) hangs before the Supreme Court (SC).

“With respect to Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, obviously, the Philippines has to go through its process in the Supreme Court review. But we are confident that it is going to get done and we are going to be able to implement effectively the provisions and the ideas that have come forward during the course of these discussions,” said Obama.

The SC has deferred at least twice its ruling on the petitions questioning the Philippines’ EDCA with the US.

Under EDCA, the US will be allowed to build structures, store as well as preposition weapons, defense supplies and materiel, station troops, civilian personnel and defense contractors, transit and station vehicles, vessels, and aircraft for a period of 10 years.

“The broader point is that, as a treaty ally, we have a rock solid commitment to the defense of the Philippines," said Obama.

"And part of our goal is to continue to help our treaty partners build up capacity, to make sure that the architecture of both defense work, but also humanitarian work, and other important activities in the region are coordinated more effectively, and we think that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement is going to help us do that,” he added. —Reuters with Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/ALG/KG, GMA News

Tags: southchinasea, barackobama, benignoaquinoiii, apec2015