WASHINGTON: A landmark international tribunal ruling on the South China Sea threatens to sharpen the differences between the United States and China, highlighting a growing gulf between the world powers.
“It will certainly intensify conflict and even confrontation,” China’s ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, said hours after the Hague-based tribunal issued its decision. “In the end it will undermine the authority and effectiveness of international law.”
In contrast, U.S. officials expressed hope that Tuesday’s ruling, which rejected the legal basis of China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea, could provide an impetus to diplomacy.
The ruling in a case brought by the Philippines was “an important contribution to the shared goal of a peaceful resolution to disputes in the South China Sea,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, the White House policy director for Asia.
Both he and Cui spoke at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, and their comments reflected how the South China Sea is increasingly the spoiler in relations between the U.S. and China.
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping have managed to cooperate on global issues such as climate change, but tensions have grown over China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea.
China has created artificial islands with military facilities, viewed by the U.S. as an attempt to gain effective control of the area. The U.S. has responded with more military patrols, which China views as provocative.
If first reactions to the ruling are anything to go by, the differences are set to deepen — although both sides say they don’t want this issue to dominate the relationship.
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