China Rejects U.S. Proposal to Ease South China Sea Tensions
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China rebuffed a U.S. proposal for countries to refrain from “provocative” acts in the South China Sea as growing tensions over disputed territorial claims dominated a meeting of regional foreign ministers.
“It’s no understatement that what happens here matters not just to this region and to the U.S. but it matters to everybody in the world,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday at the first day of the Asean Regional Forum in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. “That’s why we’re encouraging claimant states to consider voluntarily agreeing to refrain from taking certain actions” that could escalate disputes, he said.