Asean seeks early conclusion of a maritime pact for South China Sea
Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting urged to accelerate negotiations on agreement to defuse maritime tensions in disputed waters
Southeast Asia will push for early conclusion of a maritime pact to defuse tension in the South China Sea, Malaysia said yesterday as the Philippines decried the inaction over reclamation efforts by China in disputed waters.
Foreign ministers from 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations grappled with the issue during a two-day retreat in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Malaysia's Sabah State in Borneo.
"The ministers instructed our senior officials to intensify efforts towards achieving the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and work vigorously towards the early conclusion of the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea," Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said at the end of the meeting.
As chair of Asean this year, Malaysia faces the challenge of ensuring the issue of South China Sea does not flare up.
Although Malaysia is a claimant state, it has thus far preferred quiet diplomacy in dealing with the dispute as it attempts to strike a balance between protecting its interests and preserving its relationship with China, a major trading partner.
The Philippines and Vietnam, however, have had very public rows with China over encroachment into their territory in the Spratly Islands.
Last May, the Philippines accused China of conducting "massive" reclamation work on one of the reefs in the Spratlys.
Manila's Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario called on Asean to respond .
"The massive reclamation issue presents a strategic policy dilemma for Asean," Rosario said.
"Our inaction on this would undermine the principle of centrality, since we are unable to address in a unified and collective way such a critical issue in our own backyard."
China's move, he added, threatens peace, stability and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and he urged Asean "to consider reaching out to the international community to say to China that what it is doing is wrong - that it must stop its reclamation activities at once."
China's foreign ministry dismissed Manila's accusations in the land reclamation row, saying last week "small countries cannot make trouble out of nothing".
Anifah said he has instructed Thailand as the country coordinator overseeing the Code of Conduct to "increase the frequency" of the meetings between Asean and China.
"During our chairmanship we intend to solve problems through moderation and dialogue," he said.
According to an Indonesian official, the next meeting on the COC was to be held in April in China, but China has yet to fix the date. The last meeting was in October last year in Bangkok.
Singapore, which will take over from Thailand as the country coordinator in August, said it will try hard to deliver a COC.
"A number of countries raised the issue very strongly because they felt that the progress on the COC was a little muted compared with the way land reclamation was being carried out," Singapore's Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam said.
