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Kerry to take harder U.S. line on Asia maritime disputes to China
Reuters By Arshad Mohammed and David Brunnstrom

Growing concern with China's behavior at sea: senior U.S. diplomat Reuters
Kerry to visit China, South Korea, Indonesia and Abu Dhabi Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States fired a shot across China's bow a week ago by taking a tougher stance on maritime disputes in East Asia, a message Secretary of State John Kerry will amplify in Beijing this week.

The high tensions in Asia over Beijing's territorial claims in the East China and South China Seas will be near the top of Kerry's agenda when he meets senior Chinese officials on Friday. He will also discuss North Korea and climate change.

Kerry's top aide for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Assistant Secretary of State Danny Russel, drew a harder U.S. line last week on a series of maritime disputes between China and its neighbors.

"It (Russel's testimony) certainly indicates a sharper tack in terms of the concerns we have and the steps we want China to take" on maritime disputes, said a senior State Department official. "Secretary Kerry will continue to press the Chinese to refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric and caution against the provocative nature of some of China's actions."

Russel faulted recent steps by China, including its November 23 declaration of an air defense zone (ADIZ) in an area of the East China Sea that includes islands at the center of a dispute with Japan, and suggested its South China Sea territorial claims that do not flow from land features are "fundamentally flawed."

China claims about 90 percent of the 3.5 million square km (1.35 million square miles) South China Sea, depicting what it sees as its area on maps with a so-called nine-dash line, looping far out over the sea from south China.

The United States is increasingly worried that China is trying to gain creeping control of the waters in the Asia-Pacific region and Russel said its claims had "created uncertainty, insecurity and instability."

Kerry left Washington on Wednesday for a one-week trip to Seoul, Beijing, Jakarta and Abu Dhabi.

Even though it will be Kerry's fifth visit to Asia since taking office a year ago, he has faced criticism for the time he has devoted to Middle East peace efforts rather than President Barack Obama's much vaunted policy of rebalancing the U.S. military and economic focus toward Asia.

Doubts about this U.S. commitment were highlighted in October when Obama called off plans to attend two summits in Asia because of a budget crisis at home, so the tougher stance signaled by Russel will be welcome in much of the region outside of China.

Analysts said Russel appeared to firmly blame China for the territorial disputes, warned against any attempt by the Chinese to declare a new ADIZ in the South China Sea and suggested that Chinese claims were not supported by international law.