Clinton urges Asean unity on sea disputes ahead of Beijing visit
Recipe for tensions on Clinton visit to Beijing as US secretary of state intends to bring up maritime disputes with Chinese leaders
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has called on Southeast Asian nations to present a united front to Beijing in dealing with increasingly tense territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and set a date for diplomatic progress to be made.
Clinton, who will arrive in Beijing today for two days of talks with Chinese officials, is expected to bring up territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea, while Beijing has voiced concerns over Washington's "pivot" policy from the Middle East to East Asia.
At a news conference in Jakarta with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, Clinton offered strong US support for a regionally endorsed plan to ease rising tensions by implementing a code of conduct for all claimants to disputed islands.
She said the US saw it as important for Asean and China to have something to show for their efforts by the time of a November summit of East Asian leaders that US President Barack Obama plans to attend in Cambodia. Natalegawa agreed on the importance of the code of conduct and the need to set it up quickly.
"We must try to have the code of conduct," he said. "Absent a code of conduct, absent the diplomatic process, we can be certain of more incidents and tension for our region. Absent Asean unity, the question will become like a loose cannon in the way the issue is discussed."
Indonesia played a leading role in putting together a six-point plan with its Association of Southeast Asian Nations counterparts to tackle the South China Sea disputes, after the association was unable to reach a consensus on the issue in July.
