Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman made an unexpected trip to Manila
Friday to meet Philippine counterpart, Albert del Rosario, and discuss
differences within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the
territorial row involving four of its members and China.
Aman’s visit is the second by a
top ASEAN diplomat concerned over the rift that has divided members of the
regional economic bloc.
On Wednesday, Indonesian Foreign
Minister Marty Natalegawa met Del Rosario in Manila to seek support for the six
principles that embody the ASEAN’s common position on the territorial disputes.
The principles, which Natalegawa
hopes to be issued as a joint statement this week, aim at mending the
disagreements – and foster unity – within ASEAN.
On Tuesday, Agence France-Presse
reported Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as saying there would be
no quick resolution to competing territorial claims in the South China Sea,
warning tensions must not be allowed to escalate.
"It is safe to assume, given
the extreme complexity of the overlapping claims, that we will not see a
diplomatic resolution of the South China Sea disputes in the short term,
perhaps even in the medium term," said Yudhoyono in the same AFP report.
"Short of a comprehensive
resolution, the claimants must do their best to manage and contain the disputes
to make sure that it does not escalate – or worse – lead to the outbreak of
military clashes," the Indonesian leader told the First Strategic Review Forum
in Jakarta.
Common concerns
A Department of Foreign Affairs
statement Friday noted Rosario and Malaysia’s Aman discussed “issues of common
concern, among which was the statement on ASEAN’s six-point principles on the
South China Sea.”
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul
Hernandez said Aman “agreed to the six-point principles that have already been
discussed between the Philippines and Indonesia” two days ago.
The principles call on ASEAN to:
§
agree to fully
implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea or
DOC
§
support for
the guidelines of the DOC
§
conclude early
a regional code of conduct on the South China Sea
§
fully respect
universally-recognized principle of international law including the 1982 United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
§
continue
exercising self-restraint and non-use of force
§
have a
peaceful resolution of conflicts in accordance with universally-recognized
principles of international law and including the 1982 UNCLOS.
§
Manila, which
had long been advocating the same principles, supports the proposal.
Southeast Asian states have
reached a "common position" on the disputed South China Sea, but will
not resurrect a joint communiqué aborted after unprecedented discord over the
issue at a summit last week, Reuters said in a separate report Friday, citing
Indonesia's Foreign Minister.
Marty Natalegawa sought to put a
positive gloss on two days of shuttle diplomacy that failed to rally members of
the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) behind a belated,
face-saving communiqué.
China claims the West Philippine
Sea nearly in its entirety, its claim overlapping with territorial waters of
other nations like the Philippines.
Brunei Vietnam, Malaysia, and the
Philippines all ASEAN members – as well as Taiwan have rival claims to the sea,
supposedly rich in oil and gas deposits. It is also regarded as among the
world’s strategic and busiest waterways.
An optimistic future
In an unprecedented development
last week, ASEAN failed to issue its customary joint communiqué when Cambodian
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong blocked any mention of the Philippines’
territorial row with China over Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc – also called
Scarborough Shoal.
Cambodia, this year’s host of the
ASEAN’s rotating chairmanship, is a known ally of China.
ASEAN also groups Laos, Myanmar,
Thailand and Singapore.
According to AFP, divisions over
members' territorial disputes with China prevented the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) from issuing its customary joint statement at the
conclusion of its meeting in Cambodia on July 13.
Yudhoyono’s exasperations over
the issue were not for the first time.
"Things do not necessarily
have to be this slow," he told ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Bali in
July last year.
"We need to send a strong
signal to the world that the future of the South China Sea is a predictable,
manageable and optimistic one," Yudhoyono added.
VS, GMA News
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