Washington, Sep 25 (IANS) Six Democratic senators have urged President Donald Trump to confront Chinese President Xi Jinping over Beijing’s renewed island-building in the South China Sea, warning that a new outpost could threaten regional countries and restrict US naval operations.
Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey led the letter, which was also signed by Senators Tim Kaine, Michael Bennet, Brian Schatz, Tammy Duckworth and Jeff Merkley.
The lawmakers sent it to Trump on Wednesday, a day before his summit with Xi began in Washington.
They asked Trump to raise China’s activities at Antelope Reef and address what they described as the wider strategic consequences for the United States and its Indo-Pacific partners.
“We are concerned that your administration appears to be ignoring this renewed island building campaign while pursuing diplomacy with China,” the senators wrote.
“The fact that China has chosen this moment to resume artificial island-building on your watch, after a decade of dormancy, indicates that your administration’s efforts to bolster frontline states and deter Chinese maritime coercion in the South China Sea have, to date, proven insufficient.”
The lawmakers said China has started large-scale dredging and land-reclamation work to transform Antelope Reef, a maritime feature in the disputed waterway.
They said Beijing has previously claimed about 90 per cent of the South China Sea despite what they described as the absence of a legal basis under international law.
China’s earlier artificial islands have been equipped with surveillance systems, military bases and long runways capable of handling military aircraft, according to the senators.
Those facilities have expanded Beijing’s ability to project power and pressure Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines, they said.
“A Chinese presence on Antelope Island could further reinforce its broad, sweeping territorial claims over the South China Sea in violation of international law and opposition to longstanding US policy, reinforcing Beijing’s vision of a ‘might makes right’ world,” the senators wrote.
“Potential air and naval facilities on the island will provide the People’s Liberation Army, China Coast Guard, and Chinese Maritime Militia, with another platform from which to intimidate, harass, and coerce our regional allies and partners.”
The lawmakers also warned that the facility could be used to track US forces operating in the area.
“Experts have warned that the island will also likely be used to surveil and constrain U.S. naval activity in the South China Sea,” they wrote.
The letter came as Trump and Xi held high-level talks covering trade, artificial intelligence, security and other disputes shaping relations between the world’s two largest economies.
The senators argued that diplomatic engagement should not come at the cost of overlooking China’s maritime activities. They said the administration’s response so far had not been sufficient to deter coercive conduct.
Kim has also pressed the administration to reaffirm US support for Taiwan, maintain technology safeguards and discuss export controls with Beijing. His office said the latest letter formed part of his effort to protect a free and open Indo-Pacific.
China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the South China Sea. A Hague tribunal ruled in 2016 that there was no legal basis for China’s sweeping historic-rights claims within its so-called nine-dash line, but Beijing rejected the ruling.
–IANS
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