Asian nations under pressure to ease sea tensions
Clinton urges ‘progress’ of a code of conduct in
South China Sea:
CAMBODIA: Southeast Asian nations were to hold crunch talks
yesterday on easing friction in the South China Sea as the US called for
progress on the thorny issue at the start of a regional security forum.
Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations are gathering in the Cambodian capital before being joined later
this week by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 16 other
counterparts including China, Japan and the Koreas for the ASEAN
Regional Forum.
Tension over competing claims in the South China Sea promises to be
the hot button issue, with Indonesia’s foreign minister saying he
expected to see movement on efforts to draft guidelines to resolve
disputes in the sea.
“If not now, when? I mean, this is what we are here for,” Marty
Natalegawa told reporters in Phnom Penh on Sunday.
Manila is leading a push for ASEAN to unite to persuade China to
accept a “code of conduct” (COC) in the sea, where tensions have flared
recently with both Vietnam and the Philippines accusing Beijing of
aggressive behaviour.
China has preferred an approach that would deal with the claimants
individually.
“We will be discussing where we are and how to proceed, as to when
for example to engage China in the process of formulating this code of
conduct,” Natalegawa said, adding that “recent developments” in the sea
would also be on the agenda.
China, Taiwan and ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and
Malaysia have overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea,
home to vital shipping lanes and believed to be rich in oil and gas
deposits.
China recently angered Vietnam by inviting bids for exploration of
oil blocks in contested waters, sparking protests in Hanoi, while
Beijing and Manila are locked in a tense standoff over a disputed shoal.
Clinton on Sunday urged “progress” on a code of conduct in the South
China Sea.
Strategic rivalry between Washington and Beijing is expected to loom
large over the summit, following the recent expansion of US military
relations with the Philippines and Vietnam.
But observers predict Clinton will be eager to downplay any friction
with China and may be less outspoken on the maritime dispute than in the
past.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- a grouping of nearly
600 million people from disparate economic and political systems.
The bloc has often been dismissed as a talking shop but it has
assumed new strategic importance in light of Washington’s foreign policy
“pivot” to Asia and the economic rise of China in recent years.
AFP |