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What China's Asian Maritime Rivals Expect from an Emboldened, Supportive US

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Asian countries who feel pinched by China over
   competing maritime claims expect the U.S. government to step up aid
   following Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's words of support this week,
   but only in severe cases and without risking conflict, scholars in the
   region believe.

   In a statement issued Monday, Pompeo promised to protect the maritime
   rights of the smaller Asian countries in keeping with international
   law. China vies for maritime sovereignty with Brunei, Malaysia, the
   Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, all of which have weaker militaries.
   At stake is the shared 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea,
   which is flush with fish and energy reserves.

   Claimant governments tentatively welcome Pompeo's offer but want to
   know what, specifically, Washington will do before feeling more
   confident, analysts say.

   "It will really make Southeast Asia sit up and take notice if there are
   real concrete actions that follow soon after the recent Pompeo
   statement, because otherwise it will still remain a statement and
   people will continue guessing what is going to come after the
   statement," said Collin Koh, a maritime security research fellow at
   Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

   Pompeo told reporters in Washington on Wednesday he would consider
   protecting third countries against China through legal means and
   multilateral bodies including the 10-member Association of Southeast
   Asian Nations bloc. Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines are
   among the bloc members.

   U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell hinted at a conference
   Tuesday there is "room to sanction Chinese officials and state-owned
   enterprises that engage in illegal activities," Olli Pekka Suorsa,
   research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in
   Singapore, wrote in a commentary e-mailed to reporters on Thursday.

   Pompeo said Washington's superpower rival Beijing lacks rights to claim
   90% of the waterway, where it has angered neighboring countries over
   the past decade by landfilling tiny islets for military, economic and
   scientific use.

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