CODE OF CONDUCT: TENSION MARKS ASEAN GAB OVER
PH-CHINA SEA DISPUTES
[PHOTO - Despite
agreeing on a workable Code of Conduct that the members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations intend to discuss with China, tension still pervades
over the week-long 45th Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom
Penh.]
MANILA, JULY 12, 2012
(STANDARD) By Bloomberg - Still, PH hopes
China will be receptive to code of conduct
Despite agreeing on a workable Code of Conduct that the members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations intend to discuss with China, tension
still pervades over the week-long 45th Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom
Penh.
[PHOTO- Up close and personal. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
greets Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario during the Asean ministerial
meeting in Phnom Penh.]
The meetings, which were supposed to start early Wednesday but were later
held in the afternoon, were marked by heated discussion among the Asean members,
particularly between the Philippines and Vietnam on one side, and the countries
allied with China including host Cambodia, on the other.
Reports from Cambodia also indicated that the foreign ministers were arguing
whether to include in the COC specifics of the disputes between China and the
Philippines, and between China and Vietnam.
The discussion was actually a stark defiance of an earlier statement from
China, which warned the Asean nations not to discuss "territorial disputes"
during security meetings.
By making the warning, Beijing also rebuffed US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton's earlier wish to discuss the issue on the South China Sea (West
Philippines Sea), which she described as "critical."
"The Asean meetings are "not an appropriate venue for discussing the South
China Sea," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said.
China has insisted that "when the time is ripe," it will consider adopting a
code of conduct based on "building mutual trust and deepening cooperation," but
not one that settles the territorial disputes, which it wants to discuss with
the concerned countries separately.
Manila is pushing for a Code of Conduct that is based on a UN law on maritime
boundaries in the area, while Vietnam wants China to desist from making oil
exploration with foreign firms on its boundaries.
The Philippines is actually making its own bid on oil exploration contracts
in the South China Sea, off the northwest Palawan basin.
Energy Undersecretary Jay Layug said that, since the area was believed to be
the most promising for oil and gas exploration. He also identified another
potentially oil-rich area in the Reed Bank, but this is also being claimed by
China.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario reported from Cambodia that
the Asean would soon discuss with China the proposed main element of the COC.
Del Rosario, though, did not identify which elements of the COC the Asean
would discuss with China, but emphasized the need for a more progressive
Philippine commerce through maritime safety in the region.
"For archipelagic states like the Philippines, unimpeded commerce and
maritime safety are important given the quarter of the estimated 1.37 million
mariners worldwide are Filipinos," Del Rosario said in a statement.
He called for the effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct
of Parties in the South China Sea and insisted that the COC must be "credible,
binding and enforceable".
The Declaration of the Conduct, which was signed by China and the Asean in
2002, was a non-binding document aimed to "resolve their territorial and
jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or
use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign
states directly concerned, in accordance with universally recognized principles
of international law, including the 1982 United Nation Convention on the Law of
the Sea".
The COC also directed the signatories to "exercise self-restraint in the
conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect
peace and stability including, among others, refraining from action of
inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays, and other
features and to handle their differences in a constructive manner".
But because it was a non-binding agreement, the COC proved useless against
aggression since it contained no provision that would impose sanctions on
misbehaving claimants.
The Philippines had earlier accused China of violating the COC when
authorities caught Chinese fishermen poaching in Philippine waters at
Scarborough Shoal, which has sparked a standoff between Manila and Beijing.
With reports from Sara Susanne Fabunan and Joyce
Pangco-Pañares
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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