US PUSHES SEOUL to oppose China's sea grab

A senior US official urged South Korea last week to speak out against China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. At a Washington seminar last week, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel denounced the land reclamation projects being carried out by China in an apparent bid to bolster its territorial claims over those of countries like the Philippines and Vietnam. 

The US has openly criticised China for raising tensions with its neighbours by creating the artificial islands and military facilities in the sea. Washington has vowed to continue air reconnaissance over the area despite protests from Beijing, calling on its allies to join its denunciation of China’s move, which it says destabilises the international order.

Russel said the fact that South Korea is not a claimant in the disputed waters gives Seoul all the more reason to speak out, because it would be speaking not in self-interest but in support of universal principles and the rule of law. 

His remarks marked the first time a US official had publicly requested that Seoul take the side of Washington over this military flashpoint between the two great powers.

At last year’s meeting of South Korean and US foreign and defence ministers, agreement was reached on the importance of maintaining peace and stability and protecting the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. This indicates that Seoul’s position is different from Beijing’s policy to establish its sovereignty over nearly all the disputed waters.

But Russel pushed South Korea to go further and clarify its stance against China’s expansionism. Behind his request seems to be lie concern in Washington that Seoul is tilting towards Beijing.

South Korea decided in March to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, while dragging its feet on allowing the US to deploy an advanced missile defence system on its soil amid objections from Beijing. 

Seoul officials have downplayed the meaning of Russel’s remarks, saying the US is not calling for a new measure by the South Korean government. They appear to want to believe Russel was expressing a general view of the country’s role in global affairs in terms of universal principles and international norms.

But that interpretation is unpersuasive. Instead, Russel’s request was likely a thinly veiled demand that South Korea depart from its strategic ambiguity and stand by the US in keeping a rising China in check. In his remarks at last week’s seminar, Russel said Beijing’s behaviour in the South China Sea raises the question: What kind of a power does China seek to become?

In the eyes of diplomatic observers here, it seemed hardly a coincidence that Russel made the request ahead of President Park Geun-hye’s planned visit to the US next week. Her summit with President Barack Obama is expected to focus on deterring nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. But the situation in the South China Sea could also be discussed, as a key regional security issue.

In dealing with this sensitive matter, South Korea needs to ditch its strategic ambiguity and take a more substantive approach, which could help consolidate its alliance with the US while avoiding denouncing China in an explicit manner. It may serve this purpose to raise the need for China to be faithful in implementing the 2002 deal with Southeast Asian nations on their conduct in the South China Sea.