The Philippines is to be commended for its timely initiative of inviting
China, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam for a meeting in Manila on the South China
Sea disputes. China has reportedly turned down the invitation, but Brunei,
Malaysia and the Philippines will send their senior officials to attend. Ideally,
the following should be considered:
Involve all the other six Asean member States
The South China Sea has more than
just sovereign disputes among the claimant states. There are issues that also
involve all Asean member states, such as how to persuade China to start
official discussion on the drafting of the code of conduct (COC) in the South
China Sea. What we see now is a Catch-22 situation.
Asean wants an early conclusion
of the COC in order to restore confidence between Asean and China. But China
says it will engage Asean on drafting the COC "only when conditions are
ripe". For the time being China just wants to rebuild mutual trust by
implementing cooperation projects under the existing framework of the
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).
Involving all the other six Asean
member states in the Manila meeting of the four Asean claimant states in Manila
on December 12 will show Asean unity. Asean is widely seen as having suffered
serious setbacks both in the 21st Asean Summit and the 45th AMM because of
disagreements over the South China Sea.
How to make the DOC more effective?
All the parties under the DOC (10
Asean member states and China) can certainly agree that the DOC has failed to
improve the situation in the South China Sea, especially since the adoption in
July 2011 of the guidelines for the implementation of the DOC. What else can be
done to avoid confrontation and unilateral action in disputed areas in the
South China Sea that could lead to armed clashes and escalation?
Clarify who is claiming where
This will be the first time that
the four Asean claimant states can clarify to one another where their claims
are. Brunei's claims of Louisa Reefs and Rifleman Bank are minimal, and yet it
is often mentioned as one of the disputing claimant states in the South China
Sea disputes.
Vietnam is reportedly claiming
the entire Spratlys group but it is not clear whether it is also claiming
Scarborough Shoal/Reef, which was the scene of a serious confrontation between
China and the Philippines last April. Malaysia, on the other hand, is claiming
only the southern half of the Spratlys.
On what basis?
It is also useful to explain on
what basis each claimant state is claiming a particular disputed maritime
feature in the South China Sea. Vietnam seems to be using "historic
rights" very much like China in asserting its claims. But these "historic
rights" are not directly recognised in the UN Convention on the Law of the
Sea.
Agree on what is being claimed
Another important but rather
technical issue is to try to agree on the technical and legal nature of each
particular maritime feature under dispute - whether it is an island, or a rock,
or a low tide elevation, a reef, or an artificial structure. According to the
UN Convention on the Law of the
Sea, only an island - a naturally
formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide,
and can sustain human habitation or economic life of its own - can have an
exclusive economic zone (up to 200 nautical miles) or continental shelf. The
ICJ decision of November 19 on the case between Nicaragua and Colombia
indicates that the world court
is not in favour of giving small
islands (belong to Colombia) too much in economic or maritime rights that will
encroach on the coastal state's (Nicaragua's) exclusive economic zone.
Decipher China's nine-dash line claims
Another important issue to discuss
is the famous nine-dash line of China's massive claims in the South China,
which cuts into the 200-mile exclusive economic zones of all the coastal states
in the South China Sea - including Indonesia's off Natuna Besar Island. China
has yet to clarify what its "cow tongue" U-shaped line signifies. If
it represents the Chinese maritime boundary, China is actually claiming
sovereignty and/or jurisdiction behind the nine-dash line. One serious
implication is that China can then claim to have legal right to regulate
shipping and other activities in most of the South China Sea.
This issue clearly concerns not
just the four claimant states in Asean, but all the Asean member states, as
well as other countries that use the international sea lanes in the South China
Sea for shipping and commerce.
Military activities in the South China Sea
This is another issue that
concerns all the Asean member states. What to do with the secret military
activities of foreign warships outside the 12-mile territorial seas of coastal
states but within their 200-mile exclusive economic zones? Many countries,
including China, Vietnam and Indonesia, do not allow such secret military
activities of foreign warships inside their exclusive economic zones. However,
the US, which has not yet ratified the UN Convention on the Law of
the Sea, insists that its
warships have "freedom of navigation" outside the territorial seas of
all coastal states in the South China Sea. This is one important issue that the
Asean member states should come to a common position on.
The role of Taiwan?
Another issue that Asean member
states can tackle collectively is how to deal with Taiwan. Taiwan is occupying
Itu Aba or Taiping Island, which is the largest island in the Spratlys. Taiwan
officials and scholars have participated in the Track 1.5 Workshop on Managing
Potential Conflict in the South China Sea, which has been organised by
Indonesia for 22 years. Taiwan now wants international recognition as a
claimant in the South China Sea disputes, and some say in the drafting of the
COC.
Going for joint development
China has since the time of
premier Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s offered to shelve the sovereignty disputes
and go into some joint development of the disputed areas in the South China
Sea. But the offer has not been taken seriously by other claimant states
because they believe China made the offer on the assumption that all the
maritime features behind the nine-dash line belong to China.
To make the offer more
attractive, China can make a new declaration to the effect that accepting the
Chinese offer of joint development shall not jeopardise any party's sovereignty
claims in the South China Sea. This is the solution developed by Asean and China
to enable China to support the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone.
Such joint development can start
in areas that only two countries are claiming, such as the Scarborough Shoals
between China and the Philippines, or even areas off the Paracels, between
China and Vietnam.
New approach needed
Each claimant state has thus
tried to take unilateral action to enhance the validity of its claims to
maximise its potential advantage. As such, a win-win solution is impossible.
What is needed now is a new
approach, a new thinking, starting with this question: What can each claimant
state give up in order to facilitate the development of a new and perhaps
unconventional solution to settle each dispute in the South China Sea in a
win-win manner?
Termsak
Chalermpalanupap
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