US has a stake in Asian security: Hillary

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HANOI, OCT 30 (AP): Putting China on notice, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday said the United States has a key stake in increasingly tense territorial disputes between Beijing and its neighbours, as she assured nervous East Asian nations that the U.S. will remain a major power in the Asia-Pacific.
In a speech to East Asian leaders in Vietnam, Clinton declared that America has a direct national security interest in seeing peaceful resolutions to competing claims over islands that have led to a spike in animosity between China and other countries in the region, notably U.S. ally Japan.
Her comments were couched in diplomatic niceties, but the message was clear: China must not use its growing economic and military strength to bully its neighbours. Previous similar remarks from Clinton and other U.S. officials have drawn harsh criticism from the Chinese, who claim sovereignty over vast swaths of territory in the East and South China seas.
"The United States has a national interest in the freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce," Clinton told a meeting of the East Asia Summit in Hanoi. "And when disputes arise over maritime territory, we are committed to resolving them peacefully based on customary international law."