MEPO Forum :: 南海局勢

annie Wrote:
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> Obama's Asia pivot tested by China's bold maritime
> claims 
> Link:
> http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/17/us-vietn
> am-china-obama-analysis-idUSBREA4G00420140517
> 
> 
> Two Vietnamese Marine Guard ships flank a Chinese
> coast guard vessel (C) on the South China Sea,
> about 210 km (130 miles) offshore of Vietnam May
> 15, 2014.  CREDIT: REUTERS/NGUYEN MINH(Source:
> Reuters)
> 
> (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama sought to
> reassure allies in Asia last month that the United
> States would support them in the face of a more
> assertive China.
> 
> But after one of Beijing's boldest moves in years
> to lay claim to contested waters off Vietnam, some
> Asia countries are asking a simple question: Where
> is Washington?
> 
> Days after Obama left the region, China deployed
> an oil drilling rig 150 miles off the coast of
> Vietnam, into a part of the South China Sea
> claimed by itself and Hanoi. That sparked deadly
> anti-China riots in central Vietnam and raised
> questions over whether Obama's long-promised
> strategic "pivot" of military assets to Asia is
> more than talk.
> 
> "We have been pushing the U.S. to change its
> policy and take sides in the regional dispute,"
> said a senior Philippine defense official. "I
> wanted to see the U.S. match with stronger action
> what President Obama has said during his recent
> visit in the Philippines."
> 
> China claims a stretch of water off its south
> coast and to the east of mainland Southeast Asia,
> setting it in direct conflict with claims of U.S.
> allies Vietnam and the Philippines. Brunei, Taiwan
> and Malaysia also lay claim to parts of the South
> China Sea.
> 
> At stake is control over what are believed to be
> significant reserves of oil and gas. Estimates for
> proven and undiscovered oil reserves in the entire
> sea range from 28 billion to as high as 213
> billion barrels of oil, the U.S. Energy
> Information Administration said in a March 2008
> report.
> 
> The United States has responded with sharpened
> rhetoric toward China, describing a pattern of
> Chinese "provocations".
> 
> But it has taken no tangible action, a stark
> reflection of the limited options available to an
> administration already stretched by the crisis in
> Ukraine and faced with a quandary over how to
> deter China without damaging broader ties with the
> world's second-biggest economy.
> 
> The United States has refused to take sides in
> maritime disputes and urged negotiations.
> Washington itself has ruled out mediating between
> Beijing and Hanoi.
> 
> Some of America's friends in the region have
> little patience with a measured U.S. approach,
> especially after Obama, during his four-country
> Asian tour, raised expectations for an increased
> effort to keep China from overstepping in maritime
> disputes with its neighbors.
> 
> An Asian diplomat in Washington said it was
> essential the United States took a firmer line
> with Beijing while also using its influence to
> calm the mood in Vietnam, where anti-China rioting
> subsided on Friday.
> 
> He said the concern among Southeast Asian
> countries was that China was seeking incremental
> gains in provoking a series of crises with its
> neighbors, a tactic that could eventually change
> the regional landscape unless it was met with a
> resolute response.
> 
> ASIA ALLIES KEEP CLOSE EYE ON U.S. RESPONSE
> 
> The United States does not have a treaty
> obligation to defend Vietnam as it does the
> Philippines, and there was no sign Washington was
> considering tougher actions such as sending more
> navy ships to the area or imposing sanctions on
> Beijing.
> 
> Due to the intertwined nature of the U.S. and
> Chinese economies, there is little appetite in
> Washington for the kind of punitive measures that
> have been used against Russia over the Ukraine
> crisis.
> 
> Some China watchers believe a firmer U.S. stand is
> needed.
> 
> "The United States should be prepared to offer
> support to Vietnam through an increased naval
> presence," wrote Elizabeth Economy and Michael
> Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations, a
> well-known think tank. "This would give Washington
> the ability to assess Chinese capabilities and to
> help de-escalate the situation."
> 
> Another option, they said, could be restrictions
> on the U.S. activities of China's state-run oil
> company CNOOC, which owns the $1 billion rig.
> 
> "If the United States can't back up its words with
> actions, its credibility in promising to uphold
> peace and stability in the region will be gutted,"
> they wrote.
> 
> The U.S. administration had hoped China would heed
> condemnation of its air defense identification
> zone in the East China Sea, which China
> established last year to enforce its claims on
> tiny Japanese-administered islands there.
> 
> But Washington now believes that Beijing learned
> the "wrong lesson" from Russia's annexation of
> Ukraine's Crimea peninsula on how to pursue its
> own territorial claims, a senior U.S. official
> said.
> 
> The official insisted that Beijing's behavior had
> only reinforced allies' desire for an expanded
> U.S. diplomatic, military and economic presence in
> Asia, Obama's signature second-term foreign policy
> initiative.
> 
> Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa
> suggested that his country might be able to help
> mediate the China-Vietnam standoff. "If no one
> tries to make some kind of an effort, then the
> risk of escalation and a worsening situation is a
> very real one," he said.
> 
> (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in
> Washington, Jonathan Thatcher in Jakarta, Stuart
> Grudgings in Kuala Lumpur, editing by Jason Szep
> and Peter Henderson)