Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (Asean) have agreed that the regional Code of Conduct in the South
China Sea should integrate provisions of the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (Unclos), a treaty that the Philippines cites in its claim to
disputed Scarborough Shoal and other islands.
Unclos
virtually scraps China’s historical claim over majority of the islands in the
South China Sea using its “nine dashed line” argument that covers 90 percent of
the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea on Chinese maps.
The
Asean working group on the Regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea has
concluded discussions on the key elements of the draft Code of Conduct in the
South China Sea for the Asean side.
Nong
Sakal, deputy director general of the General Department of Asean, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, chaired the 7th
Meeting of the Asean Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) working group on the
regional Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.
Cambodia
chairs the Asean meetings this year. Members include the Philippines,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Burma or
Myanmar.
The
inputs of the working group would be submitted for the consideration of the
Asean SOM then forwarded to the foreign ministers meeting in middle of July and
for consideration of the Asean and Chinese leaders meeting in November this
year.
“The
meeting agreed to submit the draft Asean proposed key elements of the regional
Code of Conduct in the South China Sea to the Asean SOM for consideration,”
said an Asean statement after the meeting. It included recommendations of the
Asean Foreign Ministers in January that the Code of Conduct in the South China
Sea must be based on the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in
the South China Sea, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982.”
The
Asean officials drafting the code said, “the UN Charter and universally
recognized international laws are aimed at promoting confidence building and
cooperation between Asean and China
for the
sake of peace, stability and security in the South China Sea.”
The
code of conduct aims to demilitarize the disputed islands in the South China
Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, that are being claimed by the Philippines
and China. Other claimants to the disputed islands in the South China Sea
include Asean members such as Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
The
Philippines is seeking to engage international and regional platforms such as
the United Nations and Asean to address the increasing tensions with China over
the incidents in the Scarborough Shoal since April and previous Chinese
military presence in disputed islands in the South China Sea based on Unclos.
But
China insists on pushing for bilateral negotiations with other claimant
countries to settle the disputes.
The
Philippines had earlier opposed the inclusion of China in the drafting of the
Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, saying the code should be a product of
negotiations solely of the 10-member Asean that will have to be signed as a
final document by China.
Estrella
Torres
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