Reuters-US airs concerns to China about dangerous and unlawful South China Sea actions
November 3, 2023 3 min 453 words
这篇报道涉及美中关于南海争议的对话，美方强调了他们对中国在该地区所采取的“危险和非法”行动的担忧。这次会谈在美国国务院中国事务协调员马克·兰伯特和中国边界与海洋事务总局总局长洪亮之间举行。这次会谈发生在美国总统乔·拜登和中国国家主席习近平预计将在今年11月中旬举行的亚太经济合作组织(APEC)峰会期间会晤之前。 美方强调了恢复军事对话的必要性，以避免误解和误判。会谈被描述为“实质性、建设性和坦率”，涵盖了南海和东海等多个争议海域。美国强调了中国在南海的危险和非法行为，包括阻碍菲律宾10月22日的补给任务以及10月24日对美国飞机的“不安全”拦截。 这篇报道凸显了美中之间在南海问题上的紧张关系以及美国对中国行为的担忧。虽然双方都强调了对对话的支持，但问题仍然存在，需要通过外交手段解决。这反映出了地区稳定的重要性，以及各国应该继续通过对话和协商解决分歧，以避免潜在的紧张局势升级。
The United States and China held "candid" talks on maritime issues on Friday, including on the contested South China Sea, and the U.S. side underscored its concerns about "dangerous and unlawful" Chinese actions there, the U.S. State Department said.
The talks took place in Beijing between the department's China Coordinator Mark Lambert and China's Director-General for Boundary and Ocean Affairs Hong Liang, the State Department said in a statement.
The meeting follows recent high-level diplomacy ahead of an expected meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the mid November APEC summit in San Francisco.
The U.S. statement said the talks were part of "efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage the U.S.-China relationship" and that the U.S. side reiterated the need to resume military-military channels, "to avoid miscommunication and miscalculation."
It described the talks as "substantive, constructive, and candid" and said they covered a range of maritime issues, including the South China Sea and East China Sea, which are contested by China and other nations.
"The United States underscored concerns with the PRC's dangerous and unlawful actions in the South China Sea," it said, referring to the People's Republic of China.
Such actions included China's obstruction of an Oct. 22 Philippine resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal and its "unsafe" intercept of a U.S. aircraft on Oct. 24, the statement said.
China said on Monday after a visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Washington that the U.S. and China would hold "consultations on arms control and non-proliferation" in the coming days, as well as separate talks on maritime affairs and other issues.
A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Arms Control Mallory Stewart would host Sun Xiaobo, head of the arms-control department at China's Foreign Ministry, at the State Department next week.
"We have continually called on the PRC to substantively engage on arms control issues and reducing strategic risk," the spokesperson said, a reference to U.S. concerns about China's nuclear weapons build-up and frustration that Beijing has shown little interest in discussing this.
A flurry of diplomatic engagements in recent months, largely at Washington's request, has sought to salvage what were rapidly deteriorating ties between the two countries following the U.S. downing in February of a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
While Biden and Xi are expected to meet this month, China has yet to confirm this and a senior Biden administration official said on Tuesday important details have yet to be hammered out.