South China Sea safeguards ‘not strong enough’ to stop international tensions escalating
- Observers call for greater efforts to agree on a code of conduct for the disputed waters, which have become a major forum for the US-China rivalry
- Talks on the code between China and Asean have been going on for years, but have yet to resolve some major points of disagreement
“We have seen increasing militarisation of reclaimed features, highly publicised naval and navigation operations and more frequent incursions into disputed territories, as well as harassment of fishing and hydrocarbon extraction economic activities,” Herizal Hazri, chief executive of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, told a South China Sea seminar held in Sanya on the southern Chinese island of Hainan on Tuesday.
“Now, it is very clear that the existing mechanisms are becoming more likely not to be able to deal with the current challenges.”
Since the early 1990s, Asean has established multiple partnerships and dialogues with various countries to ensure the security and stability of the South China Sea, where one third of global shipping passes through every year.