Beijing’s South China Sea Claims Cloud U.S.-China Talks

The dialogue, which began Monday in Beijing, takes place with China bracing against growing international pressure over its territorial claims and asserting its intent to exercise greater clout as a major power. Economic strains between Beijing and Washington, meanwhile, have flared over currency and trade practices.

The intent of the high-level talks, which President Barack Obama launched in 2009, is to try to find common ground. U.S. officials, for instance, have said they would seek Beijing’s help in pressuring North Korea over its nuclear program. Last week, though, Washington took additional steps to cut off Pyongyang from the global financial system—a move that could expose China, North Korea’s largest trading partner, to negative economic effects.

The annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue is a two-day affair that draws hundreds of U.S. and Chinese officials. They are led on the U.S. side by Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and on the Chinese side by State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Vice Premier Wang Yang.

At the opening of the talks, Mr. Lew chided China for a recently passed law granting police broad authority to supervise foreign nonprofit groups.

“We are very concerned that China’s recently passed Foreign NGO Management Law will weaken that foundation by creating an unwelcome environment for foreign NGOs,” Mr. Lew said, adding that “addressing it will be important for our bilateral relationship.” (View an interactive detailing the dispute over the South China Sea.)

Mr. Kerry appeared to reference the NGO law as well—saying “nothing does more to assist our official deliberations than the involvement of individuals and grass roots organizations in both the United States and China”—and said he would raise concerns about human rights and transparency in the meetings.

Disagreements were evident on Sunday. At Asia’s largest security conference in Singapore, Beijing’s highest-ranking delegate spoke forcefully against U.S.-led criticism of China’s activities in the South China Sea, particularly its refusal to accept a coming tribunal ruling at The Hague that could contradict its maritime claims in the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Adm. Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Chinese military’s Joint Staff Department, dismissed what he characterized as U.S. interference in Asian security issues, and rebuffed accusations that Beijing risked isolating itself through its assertive behavior and expansive claims in the South China Sea.

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