US, South Korea want China to abide by international norms

Leaders of the US and South Korea have said that they want China to abide by international norms and rules for peace and security in Northeast Asia.

"The only thing that we're going to continue to insist on is that we want China to abide by international norms and rules," President Barack Obama told reporters at joint news conference with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye.

"Where they fail to do so, we expect the Republic of Korea to speak out on that, just as we do, because we think that both of our countries have benefited from the international norms and rules that have been in place since the end of World War II," Obama said.
 

"We don't want to see those rules of the road weakening, or some countries taking advantage because they're larger. That's not good for anybody - including South Korea," he said.

"Given the size of China right there on your doorstep, if they're able to act with impunity and ignore rules whenever they please, that's not going to be good for you - whether that's on economic issues or security issues," Obama said.

Park said during their White House meeting Obama affirmed that Korea-US relations and Korea-China relations can be compatible, and supported South Korea's policies toward China.

"The recent summit meetings between Korea and China, the US and China, and now Korea and the US have served to build consensus regarding North Korea and its nuclear programme, and we believe that this will play a positive role in ensuring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and throughout Northeast Asia," she said.

"In dealing with the North Korean nuclear problem, we will also seek to strengthen cooperation between Korea, US and Japan. I believe that strengthening three-way dialogue between Korea, the US and Japan, and Korea, Japan and China, will enable us to open new channels for stronger regional cooperation," Park said.

Obama said the US wants South Korea to have a strong relationship with China, just as it too wants to have a strong relationship with China.

"We want to see China's peaceful rise. We want them to be cooperating with us in putting pressure on North Korea. We want to be working with them to uphold international norms and rules of the road," he said.

"So there's no contradiction between the Republic of Korea having good relations with us, being a central part of our alliance, and having good a relationship with China," Obama said.