As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry heads to Laos on Monday for an annual meeting with Southeast Asian nations, China doubled down on its territorial claims in the South China Sea. A July 12 Hague tribunal declared that claim invalid, though China has since reiterated its claim, refusing to recognize the non-binding ruling. “Territorial integrity and maritime rights and interests will be defended,” Chang Wanquan, China’s defense minister said on Sunday, on the eve of the Laos meeting, which China will be a part of.
Kerry’s focus at Monday’s meeting–with the Association of South East Asian Nations, or ASEAN–will be “to find diplomatic ways to peacefully interact in the South China Sea,” said a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of the talks. China claims a vast portion of the sea, an important trade route with nearly $5 trillion worth of goods traveling through it each year.
But China’s territorial claims–which include waters with untapped oil reserves lurking beneath, as well as small parcels of land too small to inhabit–are moot, according to the tribunal, the highest authority on matters of international law. Its rulings are non-binding, however, and China has remained steadfast in its claim to its “territorial integrity.” China’s claims are based on old maps that show a “nine dash line,” which includes large tracts of the South China Sea, areas which the Philippines–which brought the case against China to the tribunal in 2013–now claims.
Monday is of particular significance to China, as it marks the 89th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army. The PLA has been in charge of the aggressive steps China has made in the South China Sea to bolster its territorial legitimacy, including engaging in island-building and increased its naval presence, which has at times resulted in stand-offs with American boats. Most of ASEAN’s members–which include North Korea, Vietnam, and Russia–have supported the Hague tribunal’s decision, with one major exception: Russia. The Kremlin has backed China’s refusal to accept the tribunal’s finding that its claims are illegitimate, and the two recently announced they will be conducting joint military exercises in the disputed waters in September.
Before he left for Laos, Kerry said that he is not taking sides in the South China Sea dispute. But the “rule of law must be upheld.” Another intriguing element to the talks is the presence of North Korean diplomats. North Korea recently called the U.S.’s direct sanctioning of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un–mostly due to human rights abuses–a “declaration of war.” According to the U.S. official with knowledge of Kerry’s goals in Laos, he, along with other Western representatives, will tell the North’s foreign minister that “the world is not prepared to accept North Korea as a nuclear state.”