By Peter Jennings

July 28, 2015

"The fifth annual Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) conference on the South China Sea, held in Washington DC last Wednesday, was a quality event, where knowledgeable experts rubbed shoulders with senior politicians and officials. Regrettably, there was not a glimmer of hope pointing to a breakthrough in the competing sovereignty claims marking the region, or the deeper strategic forces driving China and other parties.

Of particular note at the conference was the speech from Daniel Russel, the State Department's Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and one of the Obama Administration’s most senior Asia hands. The speech is notable for what it doesn't say and striking in casting U.S. policy in terms of what a Chinese analyst might call the 'five nots.' To quote Mr. Russel:

'Now, the US is not a claimant…these maritime and territorial disputes are not intrinsically a US–China issue. The issue is between China and its neighbors…'"

Read more:
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/barack-obamas-big-south-china-sea-mistake-13439

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