US rejects China claims in South China Sea, drawing Beijing’s ire
Al JazeeraChina accuses US of ‘inciting confrontation’ after Washington rejected expansive claims in disputed sea for first time. The United States has rejected China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, drawing an angry response from Beijing, which said Washington was trying to inflame tensions in the disputed waters. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday there was no legal basis for China’s claims on the Sea and accused Beijing of using intimidatory tactics against other claimant states. “We are making clear: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them,” Pompeo said in a statement. China claims almost all of the South China Sea under its self-proclaimed “nine-dash line”, which would give it about nine-tenths of the 3.5-million square kilometre sea.