US envoy decries intimidation in disputed South China Sea 0 SHARES Share it! Share TweetBy ReutersBANGKOK – A US envoy denounced Chinese “intimidation” in the South China Sea at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders on Monday and invited them to a special summit in Washington on behalf of President Donald Trump. China has made sweeping maritime claims in the resource-rich waters of the South China Sea and angered neighbors by sending ships into the busy waterway, where several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also have claims. “Beijing has used intimidation to try to stop ASEAN nations from exploiting the off-shore resources, blocking access to 2.5 trillion dollars of oil and gas reserves alone,” US envoy Robert O’Brien told the ASEAN-US summit in a speech. At this year’s summit, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was the highest-ranking delegation official, prompting the 10-member ASEAN to downgrade the summit to a “troika” attended only by top leaders from Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.

Source: Manila Bulletin November 04, 2019 09:43 UTC