Challenging Beijing's Claims
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FACES MILITARY NHL Body of ‘Glee’ Osan airman who Training camps actress found in went missing returns open for 24 teams California lake safely to US base ahead of playoffs Page 15 Page 6 Back page White House official stresses need to get virus under control » Page 9 stripes.com Volume 79, No. 63 ©SS 2020 WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2020 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas Navy cites progress in fighting fire on warship BY JULIE WATSON Associated Press SAN DIEGO — The battle to save the USS Bonhomme Rich- ard from a ravaging fire entered a third day in San Diego Bay on Tuesday with indications that the situation aboard the amphibious assault ship was improving. The U.S. Navy said in a state- ment late Monday that firefight- ers were making significant progress with the assistance of water drops by helicopters. The ship was emitting much less smoke than the previous two days, when acrid billows poured out and blanketed parts of the region. The Navy, meanwhile, has taken precautions in case the warship sinks and potentially re- leases 1 million gallons of oil on A Navy aviator flies over board into the harbor. the South China Sea The U.S. Coast Guard has in an F/A-18E Super hired an oil clean-up crew to put Hornet last week. a containment boom in place that U.S. Navy photo SEE FIRE ON PAGE 4 Challenging Beijing’s claims State Department rejects China’s South China Sea assertions as unlawful BY WYATT OLSON said in the policy statement, which most of the South China Sea, claims Stars and Stripes aligns America’s position with a 2016 disputed to various degrees by the international court ruling. “[China] neighboring nations of the Philip- China’s claims to natural resourc- has no legal grounds to unilaterally pines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indone- es across most of the South China impose its will on the region. sia and Brunei. Sea “are completely unlawful, as is “Beijing uses intimidation to un- its campaign of bullying to control In 2016, the Hague’s Permanent dermine the sovereign rights of Court of Arbitration determined them,” Secretary of State Mike Pom- Southeast Asian coastal states in the that, under the 1982 Law of the Sea peo said Monday in the State Depart- South China Sea, bully them out of Convention, China’s claims over ment’s most vigorous pushback to offshore resources, assert unilateral GREGORY BULL/AP date on the disputed sea. dominion, and replace international isles and reefs in the Spratly Islands “The United States champions a law with ‘might makes right.’ ” near the Philippines were baseless. A helicopter drops water on the free and open Indo-Pacific,” Pompeo Pompeo China asserts sovereignty over SEE CLAIMS ON PAGE 3 USS Bonhomme Richard on Monday in San Diego. PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Wednesday, July 15, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES Military rates Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9392 Campaign urges jobless to ‘find something new’ Euro costs (July 15) .............................. $1.11 Thailand (Baht) ..................................... 31.60 Dollar buys (July 15) .........................€0.8569 Turkey (Lira) .........................................6.8659 British pound (July 15) ........................ $1.22 (Military exchange rates are those BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE long emphasized skills-based job Trump created in 2018. The board Japanese yen (July 15) ......................104.00 available to customers at military banking South Korean won (July 15) ..........1,176.00 facilities in the country of issuance Associated Press and vocational training as an al- is co-chaired by Trump’s daugh- Commercial rates for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Bahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3770 ternative to college degree pro- ter and White House adviser, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For British pound .....................................$1.2509 WASHINGTON — A new White nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., grams, arguing that college isn’t Ivanka Trump, and Commerce Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.3606 purchasing British pounds in Germany), House-backed ad campaign aims for everyone and that many jobs Secretary Wilbur Ross. China (Yuan) ........................................6.9956 check with your local military banking Denmark (Krone) ................................6.5358 to encourage people who are un- don’t require a degree. “There has never been a more facility. Commercial rates are interbank Egypt (Pound) ....................................15.9495 employed or unhappy in their jobs But the long-in-the-works ef- critical time for Americans of all Euro ........................................ $1.1390/0.8779 rates provided for reference when buying to go and “find something new.” Hong Kong (Dollar) ..............................7.7514 currency. All figures are foreign currencies fort has taken on a new urgency ages and backgrounds to be aware to one dollar, except for the British pound, The opening ad in the “Find Hungary (Forint) .................................312.16 after the coronavirus outbreak of the multiple pathways to career Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.4401 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, Something New” campaign that wiped out millions of jobs, many success and gain the vocational Japan (Yen) ........................................... 107.30 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) began Tuesday features people of which may be lost forever. training and skills they need to Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3076 INTEREST RATES Norway (Krone) ...................................9.4218 sharing their stories. A com- The campaign is a product fill jobs in a changing economy,” Philippines (Peso).................................49.52 Prime rate ................................................3.25 panion website provides links to of the White House’s Ameri- said Ivanka Trump, who gradu- Poland (Zloty) ..........................................3.93 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ...........................3.7508 Federal funds market rate ................... 0.03 training and other resources. can Workforce Policy Advisory ated from the University of Penn- Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3935 3-month bill ............................................. 0.12 The Trump administration has Board, which President Donald sylvania’s Wharton School. South Korea (Won) .........................1,206.85 30-year bond ...........................................1.33 WEATHER OUTLOOK WEDNESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST WEDNESDAY IN EUROPE THURSDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 61/57 Kabul 87/63 Seoul 81/63 Baghdad 109/79 Kandahar Osan 106/75 Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 80/61 70/63 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 59/51 68/56 73/63 Iwakuni 74/70 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 100/92 Brussels 72/54 Guam 113/92 65/55 Ramstein 76/68 85/82 Lajes, 64/59 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 111/88 112/85 69/66 65/60 76/52 Aviano/ Vicenza 72/59 Naples 83/68 Okinawa Morón 85/82 103/67 Sigonella Rota 87/66 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 104/86 88/71 76/71 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..... 14 Classified .................. 13 Comics ...................... 18 Crossword ................. 18 Faces ........................ 15 Opinion .................16-17 Sports .................. 20-24 Wednesday, July 15, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 PACIFIC Claims: Policy doesn’t end US neutrality in sea’s many sovereignty disputes FROM FRONT PAGE nations’ so-called exclusive eco- China has ignored the ruling, nomic zones. and in recent years built and mil- China’s embassy in Washington itarized artificial islands in the issued a statement Monday saying area. the U.S. State Department “delib- “Today we are aligning the U.S. erately distorts the facts and in- position on [China’s] maritime ternational law” and attempts to claims in the [South China Sea] “sow discord between China and with the Tribunal’s decision,” the other littoral countries.” statement said. “Under the pretext of uphold- It specifically rejected China’s ing freedom of navigation and claims over Scarborough Shoal overflight, it is recklessly infring- and the Spratly Islands near the ing on other countries’ territorial Philippines; waters surround- sea and airspace and throwing its ing Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, weight around in every sea of the Luconia Shoals off Malaysia, Na- world,” the statement said. “We tuna Besar off Indonesia; waters advise the U.S. side to earnestly in Brunei’s exclusive economic honor its commitment of not tak- zone; and James Shoal, an entire- ing sides on the issue of territo- ly submerged reef off the coast of rial sovereignty, respect regional Malaysia. countries’ efforts for a peaceful The policy made no change in and stable South China Sea and the United States’ long-held posi- stop its attempts to disrupt and sabotage regional peace and tion of taking no sides in the sov- ERICA BECHARD/ U.S. Navy ereignty disputes. stability.” The change coincides with a far Pompeo’s statement “makes Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Bannish, right, and Airman Joseph Lorenzo adjust the pitch control rods more robust presence by the U.S. explicit a U.S. policy which was on an MH-60S Sea Hawk on the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan last week in the South China military in the sea, where the U.S. already implicit,” Peter Dut- Sea . The Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz conducted joint