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Isle Spats Frame Clinton's Asia Visit
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to tour parts ofAsia over the coming week in what could be one of the Obamaadministration's last chances to address escalating territorialdisputes across the region ahead of November elections.
Mrs. Clinton is scheduled to meet with leaders of Indonesia, EastTimor, Brunei, China and Russia amid growing tensions overcompeting claims on the islands, shoals and open waters in Asia.
Her visit, say State Department officials, is to further underline the U.S. commitment to stability inthe Asia-Pacific as the U.S. untangles itself from commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
'She is demonstrating that the U.S. is engaging in the region in a very practical way, by showing up [for multilateral meetings], contributing, listening and adopting soft initiatives,' like aid programsacross Asia, said Carlyle Thayer, an Asian security expert at the Australian Defence Force Academyin Canberra.
During a stop in the Cook Islands Friday to meet with leaders of South Pacific island nations, Mrs. Clinton pledged to continue helping to maintain security in the region and to protect the flow ofmaritime commerce. She also called on China to 'act in a fair and transparent way' in the Pacific asit expands its influence there.
'We want them to play a positive role in navigation and maritime-security issues,' she said. 'Wewant to see them contribute to sustainable development for the people of the Pacific, to protectthe precious environment, including the ocean, and to pursue economic activity that will benefitthe people.'
Speaking earlier that the meeting, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said China was helpingpromote peace, stability and development in the Pacific, the Associated Press reported, citing thestate-run Xinhua news agency.
For a year, the Obama administration has been cranking up U.S. influence in the Asian-Pacificregion, often to China's chagrin. President Obama last year announced U.S. Marines would beginregularly working out of a base in Australia, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said earlier thisyear that the U.S. Navy would shift the majority of its ships to Asia. The administration also isseeking bases to build missile defenses in Asia, primarily as a bulwark against North Korea.
Mr. Panetta is expected to return to the region again in the near future, to reassert U.S. goals andpriorities. However, the effort has not always delivered results sought by the administration.
Beijing accuses the U.S. of increased meddling in the region. Chinese officials and state mediaobject to what they describe as attempts by the U.S. to inflame territorial disputes between Chinaand its neighbors as a means to contain China's regional influence. The U.S., on the other hand, has criticized recent Chinese moves as likely to further escalate tension in the South China Sea.
Sensitivities over China's disagreements with Japan over disputed island claims are also still raw. Anti-Japanese protests erupted in some Chinese cities in recent weeks. State media in recent dayshave questioned Mrs. Clinton's visit to the region.
'It is true that one objective of Clinton's tour is to contain China's increasing influence, but the coreof U.S. strategy is to defend its dominance and hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region,' read aWednesday commentary by Xinhua.
When Secretary Clinton was in the region last in July, tempers flared and talks broke down during amajor Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Cambodia. The 10 members of theeconomic bloc failed to agree on how to respond to China's claims on parts of the South China Seathat are also claimed by several Asean members.
With the Philippines demanding a strongly worded declaration of the group's concerns, andCambodia resisting any wording that would embarrass China, Asean members couldn't agree onlanguage for a joint statement at the end of the meeting. It was the first time in the association's 45-year history that it was unable to issue a joint communiqué.
The failed talks in Phnom Penh were also a setback for the U.S., analysts said, because it has beentrying to build up Asean as a unified front against expanding Chinese influence in the region.
Territorial disputes in other parts of Asia have also been flaring up. Last month Japan raised theprospect of taking a dispute with South Korea over possession of a group of islets to aninternational court after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited them. The islets known asDokdo in South Korea, Takeshima in Japan and Liancourt Rocks in the U.S. and elsewhere are partof a long-simmering territorial dispute. Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea after Mr. Lee'svisit.
Japan has disputes with other neighbors as well. It controls a set of islands known as Senkaku, alsoclaimed by China and Taiwan; they are known as Diaoyu in Chinese. Japan also claims Russian-controlled islands known in Russia as the southern Kurils; Japan calls them the Northern Territories.
'I think one of the messages that we seek to carry on this trip is that it is absolutely essential thatcooler heads prevail in every capital, and that great care be taken on these issues, and that, in fact, all of the─these complex territorial matters have existed for decades,' said a senior StateDepartment official in Washington last week. 'They have been managed generally effectively fordecades, and during this period we've seen some of the most manifest Asian prosperity.
Mrs. Clinton arrived Thursday in the Cook Islands, where she attended an annual gathering ofofficials from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific as part of her six-nation tour.
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发表于 2016-7-11 09:54:52
