The United States last week issued a statement dismissing China’s claims to resources in the South China Sea and condemning Beijing’s “bullying” to enforce them. Washington’s policy is not new, but it more clearly aligns U.S. policy with international law and offers renewed support for countries that China is challenging with its expansive territorial claims.
It is another front in the campaign that the Trump administration is waging against China, a reminder to Beijing that the U.S. is not distracted by the COVID-19 pandemic and is not to be counted out of regional security affairs.
Words alone will not move Beijing, however. The U.S. must back tough talk with action. Rhetorical support for international law is mere posturing if Washington won’t actively assist the countries that China is bulldozing. That raises the real risk of a clash, accidental or intended, in a vital waterway.