US hardens stance against China’s claims in South China Sea

The US hardened its stance against China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and vowed to maintain pressure over human rights abuses in Xinjiang after Beijing sanctioned China hawks in Congress and the Trump administration.

Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, said the Trump administration was aligning itself with a landmark 2016 tribunal ruling which rebuked China over its claims to waters inside the so-called “nine-dash line” that encompasses roughly 85 per cent of the South China Sea.

“We are strengthening US policy in a vital, contentious part of that region, the South China Sea,” Mr Pompeo said. “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.”

Read the full story and more in the Financial Times.