Manila tack on China row wins Asean nod

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have agreed that the regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea should integrate provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), a treaty that the Philippines cites in its claim to disputed Scarborough Shoal and other islands.

Unclos virtually scraps China’s historical claim over majority of the islands in the South China Sea using its “nine dashed line” argument that covers 90 percent of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea on Chinese maps.

The Asean working group on the Regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea has concluded discussions on the key elements of the draft Code of Conduct in the South China Sea for the Asean side.

Nong Sakal, deputy director general of the General Department of Asean, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, chaired the 7th Meeting of the Asean Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) working group on the regional Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.

Cambodia chairs the Asean meetings this year. Members include the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Burma or Myanmar.

The inputs of the working group would be submitted for the consideration of the Asean SOM then forwarded to the foreign ministers meeting in middle of July and for consideration of the Asean and Chinese leaders meeting in November this year.

“The meeting agreed to submit the draft Asean proposed key elements of the regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea to the Asean SOM for consideration,” said an Asean statement after the meeting. It included recommendations of the Asean Foreign Ministers in January that the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea must be based on the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982.”

The Asean officials drafting the code said, “the UN Charter and universally recognized international laws are aimed at promoting confidence building and cooperation between Asean and China for the sake of peace, stability and security in the South China Sea.”

The code of conduct aims to demilitarize the disputed islands in the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, that are being claimed by the Philippines and China. Other claimants to the disputed islands in the South China Sea include Asean members such as Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam. 

The Philippines is seeking to engage international and regional platforms such as the United Nations and Asean to address the increasing tensions with China over the incidents in the Scarborough Shoal since April and previous Chinese military presence in disputed islands in the South China Sea based on Unclos.

But China insists on pushing for bilateral negotiations with other claimant countries to settle the disputes.

The Philippines had earlier opposed the inclusion of China in the drafting of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, saying the code should be a product of negotiations solely of the 10-member Asean that will have to be signed as a final document by China. 

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Estrella Torres | Business Mirror | June 13, 2012 | Article Link

Philippines urges united Asean stand on South China Sea

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Asean should forge a common position on a proposed code of conduct aimed at easing tensions in the South China Sea before talking with China, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said Tuesday, April 3.

Aquino told fellow leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that the fundamentals of the proposed code should be "internal" to the regional bloc's members, according to a statement from the Philippine foreign ministry.

"It is important that we maintain Asean centrality," Aquino said at the annual Asean summit in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

"After the CoC (code of conduct) has been finalised by Asean, then Asean member states will meet with China."

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said there was a "big disagreement" at a session earlier Tuesday when Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan announced that China might be invited to take part in the drafting of the code.

"We are saying that we're happy to invite China but this should be done after the approval of the CoC (by Asean). I think that we should be masters of our own destiny as far as the CoC is concerned," del Rosario told reporters, adding that Vietnam expressed a similar sentiment.

He said that it would be difficult for Asean-- which operates by consensus -- to have all of the 10 members agree on inviting China to be involved in the code's drafting.

Consensus needed

"I believe that they need to have consensus if they are going to pursue this and they will not have consensus," del Rosario said.

"We are trying to do it as fast as we can, but what we are objecting to is we don't want China to be invited in terms of the drafting and the decision making."

Asked which countries wanted China to take part, he said: "I think Cambodia would be one of them." Cambodia is the current chair of Asean's rotating leadership.

During Indonesia's chairmanship of the regional bloc least year, Asean and China agreed on a set of guidelines for the proposed code, ending a nine-year impasse.

The code is envisioned to be a legally binding document aimed at preventing small incidents in the South China Sea from escalating into bigger conflicts that could draw in major world powers like the United States.

Asean members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam along with non-members China and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the South China Sea, a conduit for more than one-third of the world's seaborne trade and half its traffic in oil and gas.

The Philippines and Vietnam accuse China of aggressively asserting its claims in recent years. The United States meanwhile asserts a "national interest" in keeping the sea's shipping lanes free and open.

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Agence France-Presse | Rappler.Com | April 3, 2012 | Article Link

Philippines wants enhanced rules in West Philippine Sea

THE Philippines is looking for a more specific content of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea (DOC) by the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

In his speech at the Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting Monday, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert del Rosario called on his regional counterparts to join in pushing for a more comprehensive Code of Conduct (COC) being created by the Asean Working Group.

“The Philippines hopes that the Code of Conduct will be a real ‘move forward’ not merely in terms of form, but more importantly in substance,” del Rosario told his colleagues in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

He said the Philippines believe that the COC must include guidelines by which stakeholder-states are to conduct themselves in the West Philippine Sea; as well as the setting of mechanisms on dispute settlement including the appropriate structure for its effective implementation.

Also being pushed by the country is the clarification and segregation of disputed from non-disputed areas in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos); and the crafting of provisions relating to cooperative activities, as may be appropriate, for the disputed areas.

“We believe that a rules-based approach under the dispute settlement mechanism established in UNCLOS is the legitimate solution in addressing conflicting and overlapping claims in the West Philippine Sea,” added del Rosario.

Aside from the Philippines, the West Philippine Sea, particularly the Spratly Islands, is being disputed by fellow Asean members Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam, as well as China and Taiwan.

The DFA chief also opined that it would be best if such a compact guideline would be set first by the region before involving other parties.

“It is important for Asean to first agree among themselves on the draft text of the COC before meeting with China,” said del Rosario.

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SunStar.Com.Ph | April 2, 2012 | Article Link