From the US to the UK to Italia: the broad coalition seeking to curb Beijing’s expansionism
‘Claims in the South China Sea are unfounded’
from our correspondent Marco Masciaga
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NEW DELHI – Just a few days after a high-profile Chinese missile test in the Pacific Ocean, on Sunday, the United States, the United Kingdom and a dozen other countries – both Western and Asian, including Italy – reiterated that China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea have no legal basis.
The occasion was the anniversary of a ruling by a tribunal established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). “We reaffirm the validity of the Arbitral Tribunal’s decision, according to which there is no legal basis for the extensive maritime claims made by China in the South China Sea, including those based on so-called ‘historic rights’,” the statement reads.
The Tribunal had ruled that ‘there is no legal basis for China to claim historical rights over the resources of the South China Sea’ outside its own territorial areas recognised by the Convention itself. The joint statement also condemned activities deemed ‘destabilising’ in the disputed maritime areas, arguing that they pose a threat to security, peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
Modi’s tour of the Indo-Pacific
This statement came after an unusually busy week on the diplomatic front, largely due to the state visit by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, signing agreements in various fields, but above all in strategic sectors such as defence and energy security.
Among other things, India will sell the BrahMos supersonic missiles – which it produces in a joint venture with the Russians – to Indonesia, and will buy uranium from Australia, the country with the world’s largest reserves of the mineral, which had, however, always refused to make it available to New Delhi for fear that the supplies might be diverted towards the production of nuclear weapons.
