WASHINGTON – The US State Department said it hoped China would avail itself of the opportunity to clarify before a United Nations tribunal the legal basis for its maritime claims in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has taken its claims, which conflict with those of China, to the tribunal but China has rejected the tribunal’s directive that it submit by Dec. 15 evidence to support its position.

“This specific tribunal request is a good opportunity for China to clarify the legal basis for I think what we would call the ambiguous nature of its maritime claims in the South China Sea and to align those claims with international law,” said State Department spokesperson Marie Harf at a press conference on Thursday.

She said the United States was aware of reports the Chinese have expanded their activities in the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, particularly on Gavin Reef in the Spratly Islands, and urged all parties to hammer out as soon as possible a code of conduct in the South China Sea.

She called on them to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes.

Several countries including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia have territorial claims to parts of the South China Sea, which China asserts is almost all its own.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon in an annual report to Congress said China was pursuing a long-term, comprehensive military modernization program designed to improve the capacity of its armed forces to fight and win short-duration, high-intensity regional contingencies.

The report released on Thursday said China was preparing for contingencies in the South China Sea and in the East China Sea where it is at loggerheads with Japan.

It said last October China conducted its largest-ever fleet exercise in the Philippine Sea with the North Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet and the South Sea Fleet participating.

Additionally, China conducted a series of joint military exercises over a six-week period during September and October which combined People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ground, navy and air forces in large-scale maneuvers along China’s southern and southeastern coasts.

As China’s interests, capabilities and international influence have grown, its military modernization program has also become increasingly focused on military investments for a range of missions beyond China’s coast, the report said.

Chinese leaders, the report added, see the first two decades of the 21st century as a “period of strategic opportunity” to advance national development.

By Jose Katigbak STAR Washington bureau