US, China clash over South China Sea at high-level UNSC meeting

The US and China on Monday clashed during a high-level meeting on maritime security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with Washington asserting it has seen “provocative actions” to advance unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea by Beijing which retorted that America is not qualified to make “irresponsible remarks” on the issue. Prime Minister Modi chaired the virtual high-level open debate on maritime security, one of the three signature events of India’s current Presidency of the powerful 15-nation UN body. The meeting was later chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as foreign ministers and UN envoys made their national statements.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of "some of the critical areas where we see maritime rules and principles under threat." In the South China Sea, we have seen dangerous encounters between vessels at sea and provocative actions to advance unlawful maritime claims, Blinken said, in a thinly-veiled attack on China which claims almost all of the 1.3 million square-mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory. China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

“The United States has made clear its concerns regarding actions that intimidate and bully other states from lawfully accessing their maritime resources. And we and other countries including South China Sea claimants have protested such behavior and unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea,” Blinken said. He futher said, some may assert that resolving the dispute in the South China Sea is not the business of the United States or any other country that is not a claimant to the islands and waters. But it is the business, and even more, the responsibility of every Member State to defend the rules that we’ve all agreed to follow and peacefully resolve maritime disputes.

China’s Deputy Permanent Representative Dai Bing, speaking last in the meeting, said that he wishes to “point out that the Security Council is not the right place to discuss the issue of the South China Sea. The US just mentioned the South China Sea issue and China firmly opposes this act.” He said that at present “with the joint efforts of China and  ASEAN countries, the situation in the South China Sea remains generally stable. All countries enjoy freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law.”  The Chinese diplomat said that Beijing is “determined and able to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.” Hitting out at Washington, he said the US itself is not qualified to make irresponsible remarks on the issue of the South China Sea.