China wants US out of South China Sea dispute

China has implicitly urged the United States not to meddle in the South China Sea territorial dispute, saying Beijing is eager to work with South Asian countries to settle the issue.

According to a statement released by China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, the country’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang said Beijing was willing to work with the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in “dispelling interference... and properly handling the South China Sea issue.”

While not referring to the US by name, the Chinese prime minister was clearly referring to Washington, which frequently pops in to take sides in the regional dispute — with China’s rival claimants.

Hours earlier, Arsenio Andolong, a spokesperson for the Philippines’ Defense Department, had accused China of building “illegal” islands at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

“We have reason to believe that their presence is a precursor to building activities on the shoal,” Andolong had said at the regional summit of the 10-member ASEAN in Laos earlier on Wednesday. “We are continuing our surveillance and monitoring of their presence and activities, which are disturbing.”

After the claims put forward by Manila, ASEAN leaders met with Li and his aides in a closed-door meeting.

China claims almost all of the strategic South China Sea, through which $6.5 trillion in shipping trade passes annually. The sea is also claimed in part by Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.

SS