A Chinese coast guard vessel rams a Vietnamese law enforcement vessel in the East Sea (Photo: the internet)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US is making clear: Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them.

The statement reads in the South China Sea, the US seeks to preserve peace and stability, upholds freedom of the seas in a manner consistent with international law, maintains the unimpeded flow of commerce, and opposes any attempt to use coercion or force to settle disputes. It shares these deep and abiding interests with its many allies and partners who have long endorsed a rules-based international order.

The US statement explicitly backed the findings of the 2016 tribunal case, which was brought by the Philippines. It said China has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region. Beijing uses intimidation to undermine the sovereign rights of Southeast Asian coastal states in the South China Sea, bully them out of offshore resources, assert unilateral dominion, and replace international law with 'might makes right,'" the statement said. But China's predatory world view has no place in the 21st century.

Pompeo's statement said the U.S. rejected Chinese claims to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from islands it claims in the Spratly Islands, an archipelago between Vietnam and the Philippines. It reads the world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire.