Pompeo: US backs Southeast Asian allies on South China Sea disputes

The United States has expressed solidarity with Southeast Asian nations locked in territorial disputes with China, saying it will not allow the Asian superpower to rule and control the resource-rich South China Sea.

"America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law," US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a statement on July 13 (US time).

"The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire," said Pompeo a day after the 4th anniversary of the Philippines' legal victory against China where an international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands nullified Beijing's massive sea claim on July 12, 2016.

Sending a strong message to China, Pompeo said Beijing's actions in the South China Sea are illegal and that the United States will continue to oppose its aggressive actions, and ensure freedom of navigation.

"We stand with the international community in defense of freedom of the seas and respect for sovereignty and reject any push to impose 'might makes right' in the South China Sea or the wider region," said Pompeo.

"We are making clear: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them." 

For retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio, the US statement "sends a very strong message" to China that the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei have the backing of the US in protecting their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.

Carpio said Southeast Asian coastal states must welcome or join naval powers' freedom of navigation and overflight operations in the EEZs and the high seas of the South China Sea, which he said in effect enforce the arbitral ruling.

Later, Beijing hit back at the US branding of Chinese pursuits in the South China Sea as illegal, saying the accusation was "unjustified' and a bid to sabotage regional peace.

"We advise the US side to earnestly honor its commitment of not taking sides on the issue of territorial sovereignty, respect regional countries’ efforts for a peaceful and stable South China Sea and stop its attempts to disrupt and sabotage regional peace and stability," the Chinese embassy in Washington said in a statement. — with a report from Agence France-Presse/KBK/RSJ, GMA News