JAKARTA: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged to take a
strong message to Beijing this week on the need to calm regional
tensions over maritime disputes that have raised broader fears of
military friction between the two major Pacific powers.
The last time
Clinton visited Beijing, plans to highlight improving U.S.-China ties
were derailed by a blind Chinese dissident whose dramatic flight to the
U.S. embassy exposed the deeply uneasy relationship between Beijing and
Washington.
This time, the irritants are disputes over tiny islets
and craggy outcrops in oil- and gas-rich areas of the South and East
China Seas that have set China against U.S. regional allies.
As
Clinton prepares to travel back to Beijing on Tuesday, U.S. officials
say the message is once again one of cooperation and partnership -- and
an important chance to compare notes during a tricky year of political
transition.
But the unease remains, sharpened by disputes in the
South and East China Seas that have rattled nerves across the region and
led to testy exchanges with Washington just as the Obama administration
"pivots" to the Asia-Pacific region following years of military
engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Both governments, too, are
preoccupied with politics at home, with the Obama administration
fighting for re-election in November and China's ruling Communist Party
preparing for a once-in-a-decade leadership change.
"WITHOUT COERCION"
In
Jakarta on Monday, Clinton urged China and its Southeast Asian
neighbors to move quickly on a code of conduct for the South China Sea
and stressed that disputes should be resolved "without coercion, without
intimidation, without threats and certainly without the use of force".
But
progress has been thwarted in recent months by China's increasingly
assertive posture in the region, which has included establishing a
garrison on a disputed island and stepping up patrols of contested
waters.
That suggests Beijing has no intention of backing down on its
unilateral claim to sovereignty over a huge stretch of ocean and
potentially equally large energy reserves.
Political analysts say
Clinton faces a balancing act, pushing on the territorial disputes while
keeping cooperation on track on other issues including reining in the
North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, the Syria crisis and economic
disputes that have long bedeviled the two countries.
"One of the
challenges before us is to demonstrate how we deal with areas in which
we have different perceptions and where we face challenging issues on
the ground, or in this case on the water," one senior U.S. official
said.
Beijing, for its part, is likely to repeat its opposition to a multilateral approach during Clinton's visit.
Asked
about the issue on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei
told reporters that "countries outside the region should respect the
choices of the countries concerned regarding the South China Sea issue".
Some
Chinese media have been blunter still. The Global Times, a popular,
nationalist tabloid, accused Clinton on Tuesday of "deeply intensifying
mutual suspicion between China and the U.S."
"Many Chinese people
dislike Hillary Clinton," it said in an editorial. "She has brought new
and extremely profound mutual distrust between the mainstream societies
of the two countries, and removing that will not be easy."
WHAT NEXT?
Clinton's
meetings on Wednesday will include outgoing President Hu Jintao as well
as Vice President Xi Jinping, the man who will likely succeed him as
China's paramount leader following a Communist Party congress this year.
Xi visited the United States in February on a get-acquainted tour and U.S. officials expect him to be a steady-handed leader.
But
concerns over China's fast-expanding influence and its belligerent tone
in regional disputes have Washington scrambling to assess how Beijing's
political stars are lining up.
China, too, has its concerns and has
pushed back against U.S. attempts to referee the South China Sea dispute
and insert itself into similar rows between China, Japan and South
Korea over islands in the East China Sea.
While Washington has
stressed that it takes no position on the competing claims and simply
wants to see a mechanism established to resolve them, its forceful calls
on China to play along have had a cool reception in Beijing.
Mark
Valencia, a Hawaii-based expert on Asia-Pacific maritime disputes, said
the recent exchanges left "no doubt that the U.S. is siding with ASEAN
-- not necessarily saying that their claim is correct, but that the
bases of their claims have more merit than those of China".
During
Clinton's last China visit in April, dissident Chen Guangcheng stole the
headlines with his made-for-TV escape from house arrest, flight to the
U.S. embassy, and eventual decision to take a U.S.-brokered deal to
travel to New York.
U.S. officials are hoping for no such surprises
during Clinton's 24-hour visit in Beijing this week, saying this is a
moment for stability, not stirring the waters.
"I think the secretary
intends very clearly to underscore our continuing interest in
maintaining a strong, positive relationship," the senior U.S. official
said. – AGENCIES
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