Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
“China has never, nor will it ever, abide by the 12 July 2016 Arbitral Tribunal ruling in the South China Sea Arbitration.
No major breakthroughs occurred in Beijing during Secretary Antony Blinken’s visit to the Chinese capital last 18-19 June, the first US Secretary of State to go to China in over half a decade.
Blinken’s trip to Beijing came at a time when relations between China and the US had plummeted to the lowest depths in recent times. US and Chinese officials have been cognizant of the need to break the free fall in relations between the two countries, but even as they looked for ways to reconstruct ties during Blinken’s visit, they also expressed that they were far from compromising on core issues.
In a regional press briefing on Blinken’s China visit, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said the US Secretary of State raised concerns with his Chinese counterparts over China’s human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.
Likewise, while he underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Blinken emphasized to his Chinese counterparts that there is no change to the US’s longstanding One-China policy.
Said Kritenbrink, “While the discussions were constructive, they were exceptionally direct and candid; there were fundamental disagreements — we talked about some of the fundamental issues and we did in fact talk about maritime issues, including the South China Sea.”
It was in that particular part of the discussions where Blinken had the chance to again underscore the “longstanding American position that we stand for freedom of navigation, freedom of overflight, and we believe that all countries should ensure that all maritime claims are rooted in international law, that such claims ought to be resolved in accordance with international law and, in all instances, should be resolved peacefully.”
China has never, nor will it ever, abide by the 12 July 2016 Arbitral Tribunal ruling in the South China Sea Arbitration (The Republic of the Philippines v. The People’s Republic of China) overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines which determined that major elements of China’s claim, including its nine-dash line, recent land reclamation, along with other activities in Philippine waters, were unlawful.
According to Kritenbrink, Secretary Blinken made clear that the US will stand up to and will counter concerns that we have with Chinese activities, including those in the South China Sea, and those directed at some of our key partners and allies such as the Philippines.
He said the US is committed to keeping channels of communication open to responsibly manage the range of issues and, most importantly, prevent the risk of miscalculation.
Considering the intransigence of both countries on their differing positions on the Taiwan issue and the Chinese presence in Philippine territorial waters alone, among several other issues, where does this now put US-China relations?
Was the Blinken mission to Beijing a success at all?
Said Kritenbrink, “I want to emphasize that the primary purpose of Secretary Blinken’s trip to Beijing was to make sure that we re-establish senior-level channels of communications so that, most fundamentally, we can try to reduce the risk of misperception that could lead to miscalculation and conflict. That was, by far, the most important objective of the trip.”
The US Secretary of State said Kritenbrink also made it clear that the US will work with its allies and partners to advance America’s vision of a world that is free and open and one that upholds a rules-based international order.”
At one point in the discussions, there was an agreement “that the US and China should work together to address shared transnational challenges, including climate change, global economic stability, food security, public health, and narcotics.
Blinken, he said, encouraged further interaction between the two governments in those and other areas, “because that’s what the world expects of us.”
At the end of his two-day visit where Blinken met with his counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang; Wang Yi, the powerful director of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office; and the People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping, Blinken said, “we are not going to have success on every issue between us on any given day, but in a whole variety of areas, on the terms set for this trip, we have made progress and we are moving forward.”
It was too much to expect that the many complex issues putting the two countries at odds with one another would have melted into a puddle in two days.
Indeed, Blinken, according to Kritenbrink, stressed that none gets resolved with one visit, one trip, one conversation. “It’s a process.”
A process that the whole world hopes would end in lasting peace, dissolving the prospect of Armageddon to oblivion.
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Credit belongs to : tribune.net.ph
