US rejects China's resource claims in areas claimed by Malaysia and others

China claims 90% of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of it, through which about $3 trillion of trade passes each year. Beijing has built bases atop atolls in the region but says its intentions are peaceful. (Pic shows US Secretary of State Pompeo.)

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday rejected China's disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, a move that may further sour the fraught ties between the world's largest two economies.

China has offered no coherent legal basis for its ambitions in the South China Sea and for years has been using intimidation against other South Asian coastal states, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.