US warning to China on maritime rows

Financial Times:

Disputes in the South China Sea were of international concern, Robert Gates, US defence secretary, said on Monday, highlighting the rising tensions between Washington and Beijing over security in Asia.

Speaking in Hanoi, Mr Gates said Washington had a strong interest in maritime security in Asia, rejecting Beijing’s view that the territorial rows that have flared up in the past two years should be resolved with its neighbours bilaterally.

“We need multilateral institutions in order to confront the most important security challenges in the region,” he said in a speech at Vietnam National University.

But despite their differences, Mr Gates accepted an invitation from Liang Guanglie, the Chinese defence minister, to visit Beijing early next year, resuming a high-level military dialogue suspended by Beijing since the start of the year over US arms sales to Taiwan.

Mr Gates and Mr Liang met ahead of a key regional security summit in the Vietnamese capital on Tuesday.

Regional tensions have been rising over a more aggressive diplomatic posture adopted by Beijing over its claims to the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands – all or parts of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. China also recently clashed with Japan over disputed island territories.

Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, angered Beijing in July by insisting that the dispute over the South China Sea was of strategic importance to Washington and offering to act as a mediator. Mr Gates and his Chinese counterpart did not discuss the matter during their meeting, according to Guan Youfei, a Chinese rear admiral and deputy director of the defence ministry’s foreign affairs office.

He said the meeting was “very short but also very candid and constructive” and “an important consensus was reached” on the need to “strengthen dialogue and communication and promote understanding and trust”.

Adm Guan said that the “strange, on-again, off-again cycle” in US-China military relations was largely the result of US arms sales to Taiwan.