MANILA, Philippines — Indonesia’s top diplomat started an
emergency trip to Southeast Asian nations Wednesday to ease differences among
them over the handling of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty
Natalegawa said he met his Philippine counterpart, Albert del Rosario, in
Manila on Wednesday and would fly to other Southeast Asian nations to try to
ease the discord and prevent further damage to the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations.
Foreign ministers of the
10-nation bloc failed to issue a concluding joint statement after their annual
meeting in Phnom Penh last week when host Cambodia rejected a proposal by the
Philippines and Vietnam to mention their separate territorial disputes with
China in the statement.
The absence of a post-conference
statement was unprecedented in ASEAN’s 45-year history and underscored the
divisions within the group over the handling of the South China Sea disputes,
which involve four of its members — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and
Vietnam. The four, along with China and Taiwan, have long contested ownership
of potentially oil- and gas-rich territories and recent spats have raised
alarm.
Cambodia, a close China ally, has
followed Beijing’s stance that the disputes should not be brought to a
multinational forum like ASEAN but instead should be negotiated by rival
claimants one on one.
The Philippines and Vietnam, in
contrast, have sought international attention and warned that Chinese
aggression in the South China Sea could block freedom of navigation in the
strategic and busy waters, which Beijing claims virtually in their entirety.
Washington has said peace and
freedom of navigation are in the U.S. national interest. China, however, has
warned the U.S. not to interfere.
Singapore Foreign Minister K.
Shanmugam has said the failure of Cambodia to forge a consensus led to the
scrapping of the crucial statement, causing “a severe dent on ASEAN’s
credibility.” Without a group statement on issues like poverty, human rights
and regional integration, it is not clear what ASEAN heads of state will
discuss at their summit in Cambodia in November, he said.
Philippine Foreign Undersecretary
Erlinda Basilio said that while her country was patient and tolerant, it “could
not perpetually remain mute over the brazen acts of infringement on its
territory and intimidation by a powerful country,” referring to China. Chinese
and Philippine ships faced off at a disputed South China Sea shoal in April.
The Philippines has withdrawn its vessels but Chinese ships have remained at
Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines.
Basilio said China has blocked
entry to a sprawling lagoon at Scarborough, a rich fishing ground. The barriers
consisted of a rope and nets held up by buoys, along with a row of Chinese
dinghies tied together with rope.
The Chinese Embassy did not reply
to an Associated Press request for a comment.
Natalegawa told a news conference
it was “critically important” for ASEAN to deal with the internal
disagreements. “If we do not do anything, we know the damage will become
bigger,” he said.
He said he would try to rally Southeast
Asian governments to agree on six principles on the South China Sea issue,
including avoiding use of force, resolving the conflicts in accordance with
international laws, and an early signing of a legally binding “code of conduct”
aimed at thwarting any major armed conflict.
Indonesia was one of the founders
of ASEAN in 1967. The bloc also includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and
Thailand.
AP
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