South China Sea dispute should be resolved peacefully: Barack Obama

UNITED NATIONS: In a strong message to China, President Barack Obama today said the US has an interest in upholding the basic principles of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as he asked Beijing and other claimants to the dispute to resolve their differences peacefully.

"On South China Sea, the US makes no claim on territory there. We don't adjudicate claims but like every nation gathered here, we have an interest in upholding the basic principles of freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce and in resolving disputes through international law, not by law of force," Obama said in his penultimate address to the UN General Assembly's annual high-level debate here today.

Obama said the US will "defend these principles, while encouraging China and other claimants to resolve their differences peacefully," he said.

Obama added that he made this remarks about the South China Sea dispute recognising that diplomacy is hard and the "outcomes are sometimes unsatisfying, that it is is rarely politically popular."

"But I believe leaders of large nations in particular have an obligation to take these risks, because such nations are strong enough to protect their interests if and when diplomacy fails," he said.

China claims whole of the SCS as its own which is disputed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

In his nearly 40-minute long address, Obama touched upon the spiraling refugee crisis and the "walls being built" to keep immigrants out, Russia's aggression in Crimea, the need to wipe out ISIS and Iran's nuclear programme.

He said that through the Iran nuclear deal, "a potential war is averted " and "the world is safer", underscoring the strength of the international system "when it works the way it should."

On Russia's annexation of Crimea and further aggression in Eastern Ukraine, Obama said while Washington recognises the "deep and complex" history between Russia and Ukraine, "we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is flagrantly violated."

"If that happens without consequence in Ukraine, it could happen to any nation gathered here today. That is the basis of the sanctions that the United States and our partners impose on Russia. It is not a desire to return to a cold war," he said.