Southeast Asian leaders sought to ease tensions with China over maritime
disputes before a regional summit tomorrow involving U.S. President Barack
Obama as concerns persist over weaker demand in the global economy.
The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations will confine discussions on a set of rules for operating in the
South China Sea to the bloc’s meetings with China, according to Kao Kim Hourn,
a Cambodian foreign ministry official. The decision comes as China and Japan
spar over islands further to the north, risking damage to trade ties between
Asia’s biggest economies.
“Asean leaders decided that they
would not internationalize the South China Sea from now on, that they will
focus this entirely within the current existing Asean-China mechanisms,” Kao
Kim Hourn said in Phnom Penh, Cambodia yesterday. “They do not want to
complicate the matter.”
The bloc is moving to improve
ties with its biggest trade partner as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and concerns
over the U.S. fiscal cliff threaten to reduce demand for the region’s
electronics, garments and automobiles. China urged Southeast Asian nations to
make the global economy the “key concern” at the East Asia Summit tomorrow,
foreign ministry spokesmanQin Gang told reporters in Phnom Penh.
“This is not the key issue and
this should not be a stumbling block between China-Asean relations,” he said,
referring to the South China Sea disputes, in a briefing after Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao met with counterparts from Indonesia and Malaysia. “We should not
make it an obstacle for the success” of the summit.
‘Premier’ Arena
Obama arrives in Phnom Penh later
today to join the Asean- organized meetings, which also include leaders from
Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, Australia and New Zealand. Obama last year
called the East Asia Summit the “premier” arena to discuss maritime security
concerns, a subject China has lobbied to keep out of international gatherings
because it touches on territorial disputes.
Cambodia’s statement is unlikely
to prevent Vietnam and the Philippines, which reject China’s claims, from
raising the issue at other international forums, said Li Mingjiang, an
associate professor at the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International
Studies. Cambodia, which holds Asean’s rotating chairmanship, hung banners
outside the meeting venue welcoming Wen and hailing Cambodia-China relations.
“Other Asean countries may not
follow what Cambodia prefers,” Li said. “At the same time, it’s very likely
that external powers, other countries like the U.S., Japan, India, Australia,
will discuss the South China Sea issue at the East Asia Summit. This is
something that Cambodia just cannot prevent from taking place.”
China’s Resistance
China has resisted talks with
Asean on a legally binding code of conduct in the South China Sea, where it has
deployed maritime surveillance ships to assert its territorial claims. The
Philippines and Vietnam, which have awarded exploration contracts to Exxon
Mobil Corp. (XOM), Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM) and Forum Energy Plc (FEP),
reject China’s map of the sea as a basis for joint development of oil and gas.
Asean foreign ministers had
failed to reach consensus on handling the South China Sea disputes at a July
meeting, marking the first time in its history that it failed to release a
communique. The Philippines led criticism of China at the time, with Foreign
Secretary Albert del Rosario denouncing “pressure, duplicity, intimidation”
from Beijing’s leaders and warning that tensions “could further escalate into
physical hostilities that no one wants.”
Downplaying Tensions
Philippine President Benigno
Aquino sought to downplay tensions yesterday while repeating a call for the
disputes to be solved using international law. At a summit of Asian and
European leaders earlier this month in Laos, Aquino urged non- claimants to
become involved in South China Sea disputes, calling it “a priority issue not
only for the Philippines and the region, but also for the wider international
community.”
“We now count our community among
the few bright spots in a world beset with uncertainty,” Aquino told fellow
Asean leaders yesterday. “Among our challenges, then, is how to sustain, and
perhaps even accelerate, the gains we have made. More than at any other time in
the history of our organization, unity has become the bedrock of our shared
progress.”
Asean leaders are set to start
talks tomorrow on a regional trade agreement with China, Japan, India, South
Korea, Australia and New Zealand, an area with more than 3 billion people
representing a quarter of the world economy. China has been Asean’s largest
trading partner since 2009.
Asean wants to prevent the
territorial disputes from thwarting progress on the trade talks, Secretary-General
Surin Pitsuwan told Bloomberg Television today.
‘Move Forward’
“We are trying our best to
separate the two,” he said. “All leaders are aware of the fact that we need to
move forward economically and any differences that we have will be managed
effectively among us and between us here in the region.”
The bloc exported about $146
billion of goods to China last year, a 29 percent increase from 2010, while
imports from China grew 13 percent to about $135 billion in the same period. A
China-Asean trade agreement that took force in 2010 “has been working
wonderfully,” Surin said yesterday.
Asean leaders “expressed concern
about the situation in the euro zone, the situation in the Middle East now and
the possible fiscal cliff that the U.S. is talking about could have further
negative, dampening impact,” he said.
Southeast Asia is growing more
reliant on trade with China, which is a gateway for shipments to advanced
economies, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development. The euro-area economy succumbed to a recession for the second time
in four years, as governments imposed tougher budget cuts and leaders struggled
to contain the debt turmoil.
U.S. Efforts
The U.S. has also sought to build
trade ties with Southeast Asian countries through the Trans-Pacific
Partnership. Thailand will consider becoming the 12th country to join, Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters in Bangkok during an appearance
with Obama, who arrived yesterday.
“We believe we can do even more,”
Obama said. “To explore new ways that our companies and entrepreneurs can do
business together, all of this will advance our visions of a region that is
free and fair.”
Daniel Ten Kate and Shamim Adam
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC), Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. Since we are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, if any request, please, contact directly Dr Christian SIODMAK, business strategist, owner and CEO of SBC at christian.siodmak@gmail.com. Many thanks.
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