Water Wars: The South China Sea Security Dialogue That Wasn’t

Jun 26, 2017 | Jared Dummitt and Eliot Kim
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The United States and China participated in the inaugural U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue (D&SD) on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.. The negotiations were initially launched by President Trump and President Xi on April 7 in Mar-a-Lago. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis hosted Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, Chief of the PLA’s Joint Staff Department.

Though other issues, such as North Korea, were expected to feature prominently, both sides expressed interest in renewed dialogue over the South China Sea dispute. As noted in a “preview” of the dialogue offered by Susan Thornton, the U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, the United States went into the D&SD dialogue with the position that activity on disputed islands and reefs should be halted. “Now that there has been some move to continue with diplomatic resolution of these issues through discussions among ASEAN on the code of conduct,” she said, “what we think should happen is that all parties should freeze any construction or militarization of features that they have outposts on in this space, and make room and create the conditions for diplomacy.”