US Suggests Settlement Of South China Sea Dispute Through ASEAN

MEDAN - The United States (US) government advised the Indonesian government to explore intensively a peaceful settlement of the South China Sea dispute through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

This was conveyed by legal adviser for the East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the US Department of State Robert Harris when he was a speaker at a focus group discussion (FGD) forum at the Potential Utama University, Medan City, North Sumatra, Friday, July 15.

"On January 12, based on a report on the Limits in the Seas study regarding the PRC's maritime claims in the South China Sea, the US Department of State conducted a long series of legal and technical studies to examine national maritime claims and boundaries and assess their consistency with international law. "It is concluded that the PRC has unlawful maritime claims in parts of the South China Sea, including unlawful historical territorial rights claims," Harris said.

The latest series on the 150th maritime boundaries explains that claims to the vast South China Sea area and what the PRC calls "internal waters" and "outer islands", are entirely inconsistent with international law as stated in the United Nations Convention. -Nation (UN) on the Law of the Sea 1982.

"The decision of the international arbitral tribunal on July 12, 2016 has also decided that the PRC must stop its unlawful and coercive activities in the South China Sea," he said.

Since 2019, the PRC has claimed unilateral control of the South China Sea maritime zone and 11 countries, including the US, have rejected this.

Therefore, his party encourages countries that have rejected and have direct contact with the maritime zone such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines to explore solutions in forums under the auspices of ASEAN.

In front of the FGD participants consisting of students, academics and environmental activists, Robert Harris stated that the US government's main interest in resolving the South China Sea dispute is only to maintain a rules-based international maritime order that applies to the whole world. The PRC's unilateral claim will certainly have a negative effect on international maritime law enforcement.

"We consider that any country must have the same sovereignty and equality in the binding international law," said Robert Harris.