【华尔街日报11.18】为回避中国，美国转向其未签署的海洋条约

lilyma06

To Parry China, U.S. Looks to Sea Treaty It Hasn't Signed
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204517204577044473905113442.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

By KEITH JOHNSON                And LAURA MECKLER            
WASHINGTON—The Obama administration's growing role in mediating regional tensions around the South China Sea has stirred new interest in an international maritime treaty that supporters say would advance U.S. goals, especially its demands for restraint by China.
A main goal for President Barack Obama in talks at this week's East Asia security summit in Indonesia is easing territorial disputes between China and its neighbors before the conflicting claims become a flashpoint for conflict. China has said it doesn't want the disputes discussed at the summit.
                Disputed Isles                Competing territorial claims have led to maritime disputes off the coast of Asia.
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Mr. Obama's emphasis on promoting the rule of law, especially where China is concerned, is encouraging those who support the Law of the Sea treaty, a 1982 global legal framework under United Nations auspices that the U.S., alone among major nations, has never ratified.
Boosters of the controversial treaty say ratification would help the U.S. defend the international order it created after World War II. That is especially important as Washington tries to coax Beijing into abiding by global rules governing issues such as free trade, intellectual property and international relations.
"At the end of the day are we better off promoting a rules-based international order? I think we are, as a status quo country," said James Kraska, an international-law expert at the Naval War College.
More directly, supporters say Senate ratification would help U.S. efforts to parry Chinese attempts to claim much of the South China Sea, a resource-rich conduit for roughly $5 trillion in yearly global trade.
"In the ongoing tension over rights in the South China Sea, the United States will be in a stronger position of influence by joining the [Law of the Sea] convention," said Jonathan Greenert, the U.S. chief of naval operations, in comments this summer.
The treaty has a broad base of support among former presidents of both parties, secretaries of state, military officials, business groups, and environmentalists. But some staunch conservatives oppose it, pointing to the opposition of President Ronald Reagan and arguing it would erode U.S. sovereignty by ceding power to international bodies.
And just signing the treaty, they say, doesn't mean countries will comply with international law—China already is a signatory, while legal experts say Chinese attempts to claim the bulk of the South China Sea goes against both the letter and the spirit of the law, which lays out that a country's exclusive economic zone extends 200 miles from its shores.
"The Chinese aren't obeying the rules they signed up for. They don't even obey the black letter of the law of the treaty," said Stephen Groves, an international-law expert at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank. "What difference would it make if we were a party to the treaty?"
Senate treaty supporters formed a Senate Oceans Caucus in September to promote ratification, among other goals. However, they consider ratification unlikely anytime soon and Obama administration officials, while supporting approval, do not appear to be pushing it.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said he believes U.S. ratification would "enhance our security posture" by giving the U.S. legal backing to defend freedom of navigation in places like the South China Sea and the Straits of Hormuz, which handles about 20% of the world's oil shipments.
For the last four years, the Pentagon has warned that China is resorting to the use of "legal warfare" to expand its position in Asia, compiling scholarly and legal research to advance its interpretations of international law, to the detriment of neighbors.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an appearance in the Philippines this week that the U.S. wants to see "the Law of the Sea used as the overriding framework for handling territorial disputes." China has repeatedly asserted that it prefers addressing any dispute with its neighbors one by one, rather than multilaterally.
But proponents of the treaty argue there is a contradiction in Washington's position, as it encourages others to follow international laws—specifically maritime laws—while the U.S. itself has never ratified it.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee last voted on the treaty in 2007, approving it by a 17-4 vote. The full Senate has yet to consider the treaty.
Administration officials say the lack of ratification isn't a problem, because the U.S. follows the maritime provisions of the law. "The U.S. is standing up for norms like freedom of navigation that other nations support," said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Mr. Obama.
Even supporters of the treaty acknowledge that it wouldn't solve maritime disputes overnight. The U.S. Navy defends freedom of navigation dozens of times a year by steaming warships into contested waters, and would still do so even if the U.S. ratified the treaty.
But at a time when Beijing is increasingly using legal warfare, "appearances count," said James Holmes, a China expert at the Naval War College.
"Our being seen as outsiders to the Law of the Sea makes an enormous difference," because it gives Chinese officials free rein to ignore U.S. demands to play by the rules, he said.

AK22

认领:P:P

lilyma06

AK22 发表于 2011-11-18 14:26
认领

感谢认领！

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