KM ANIK
24 UPDATE
13/11/2017
Special News "USA"
Reported in BANGLADESH
US President Donald Trump
offered yesterday to mediate in a territorial dispute over the resource-rich
South China Sea, after years of Chinese island-building in the contested
waters.Trump's surprise proposal to insert himself into the decades-long row
risked a backlash from China, which has repeatedly said the United States has
no role to play in what it insists is a series of bilateral issues.
"If I can help mediate or
arbitrate, please let me know... I am a very good mediator,"
Trump told
Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi during an official state visit.Trump's
comments came shortly before Chinese President Xi Jinping began his own state
visit to Vietnam, in the capital Hanoi.China claims nearly all of the
strategically vital sea, through which $5 trillion in shipping trade passes
annually. It is also believed to sit atop vast oil and gas deposits.
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| Trump told Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi during an official state visit. |
Vietnam, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims in the sea, and the dispute has
long been seen as a potential trigger for conflict in Asia.Vietnam has courted
support from Washington in the row, as it and other claimants have been
powerless to stop China's efforts in recent years to cement its claims by
building artificial islands in disputed areas.Those islands are capable of
serving as military bases, and some of the rival claimants are concerned that
China will soon establish de facto control of the waters.Tensions over the sea
spiked this year when Vietnam suspended an oil exploration project in an area
of the sea also claimed by Beijing, reportedly over pressure from its
powerhouse communist neighbour.
In 2014, China moved an oil rig
into waters off Vietnam's coast, sparking violent protests in several
Vietnamese cities.
Trump's offer came just before
he flew to the Philippine capital of Manila for another regional summit.
- THANKS, BUT... -
However, his proposal was not
immediately accepted by the Philippines, which under President Rodrigo Duterte
has sought to defuse tensions with China over the row in favour of closer
economic ties.
"We thank him for it. It's
a very kind, generous offer because he is a good mediator. He is the master of
the art of the deal," Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter
Cayetano said when asked about Trump's offer.
"But of course the
claimant countries have to answer as a group or individually and not one
country can just give an instant reply because mediation involves all of the
claimants and non-claimants."Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he
had discussed the dispute with Xi when they met on the sidelines of APEC in the
Vietnamese city of Danang on Saturday."He assured us again: 'Do not worry,
you have all the rights of safe passage. That will also be applicable to all
countries'," Duterte told reporters after arriving back in Manila.
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