The Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean) should continue
striving to build an Asean Community, strengthening regional links and
narrowing the development gap between member states, said Vietnam Deputy
Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh at the 13th Asean+3 (China, Japan and South
Korea) Foreign Ministers Meeting in Cambodia yesterday.
Vinh praised the practical
development of Asean+3 relations and the active participation and important
contributions of China, Japan, and South Korea, and he urged member states to
advance the bloc's central role in regional forums.
In the future, he said, members
of Asean+3 should continue to deepen co-operation in finance and currency,
while effectively implementing the Chiang Mai Initiative and encouraging the
private sector to get involved in the Asian Bond Markets Initiative.
The bloc and its partners should
strengthen links in trade, investment, infrastructure, transport and human
resource development, he added.
Vinh also participated yesterday
in the 5th Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers Meeting and the 2nd Mekong-South
Korea Foreign Ministers Meeting.
Addressing the Mekong-Japan
meeting, Vinh suggested that, over the next two years, the Mekong nations and
Japan should focus on cooperating on important issues for sub regional
development, including hard and soft infrastructure development, particularly
the East-West corridor and the Southern corridor. He also called for close
co-ordination among Mekong sub-regional countries in managing and developing
the Mekong River in a sustainable manner, focusing on assessing the impacts of
hydroelectric dams on the main flow of the river.
Speaking at the Mekong-South
Korea Foreign Ministers Meeting, Vinh said the Mekong-South Korea framework
should propose co-operative ideas to make full use of each member nation's
expertise, such as human resource training for the Mekong Sub region
Information Superhighway, experience sharing and mutual support in building a
green growth model.
He emphasised the absolute
necessity for cooperation among nations in the management and exploitation of
the waters of the Mekong in the context of increasing pressures from population
growth, economic development and climate change.
Along with reviewing and
directing co-operative programmes, the meetings also discussed regional and
international issues of common concern, as well as existing challenges such as
food security, natural disaster management, and the reshuffling of the Security
Council.
Many countries also expressed
their concerns over recent developments in the East Sea and their impacts on
regional peace, stability and maritime security – particularly complex
developments which harm exclusive economic zones and the sovereignty of coastal
nations over continental shelf, affirming that all nations should respect and
comply with international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
(Unclos).
Vinh reaffirmed that the
Vietnamese Government opposed the setting up of China's so-called "Sansha
City" as well as its invitation for bids on nine petroleum lots within
Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
China's acts, Vinh said,
seriously violated the sovereign and jurisdictional rights of coastal nations
over their exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as stated in the
Unclos, and went contrary to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the
East Sea (DOC), threatening regional peace, stability, and maritime security.
He also reaffirmed Vietnam's support for settling disputes through peaceful
means and without force in respect of international law, the Unclos and the
DOC.
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