6 Asean states join call for peaceful resolution

By Pia Lee Brago

Manila, Philippines - Six Southeast Asian countries have joined the Philippines in calling for a peaceful resolution and the use of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in resolving disputes over some areas in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Singapore arrived at the consensus during the 21st Meeting of States Parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (SPLOS 21) from June 13 to 17 at the UN headquarters in New York.

The Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN in New York also voiced during the meeting the country’s rejection of the inclusion of areas within Philippine jurisdiction in the dispute.

The six countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stressed the need to maintain peace and security in the region. ASEAN has 10 members. The three other member-countries are Brunei, Cambodia, and Myanmar (formerly Burma).

“The rule of law is the bedrock of peace, order and fairness in modern societies. The rise of a rules-based international system has been the great equalizer in global affairs,” a statement from the Philippine mission read.

“Respect and adherence to international law have preserved peace and resolved conflicts. International law has given equal voice to nations regardless of political, economic or military stature, banishing the unlawful use of sheer force,” it said.

A statement delivered by Commission on Maritime and Ocean Affairs Secretariat (CMOAS) Secretary-General Henry Bensurto, noted that “recent developments in the Recto bank have tended to broaden the concept of disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea to include even those waters and continental shelves that are clearly within the sovereignty and/or jurisdiction of the Philippines.”

“The Philippines firmly rejects any efforts in this regard. Such actions are inconsistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Bensurto said.

“We expect nothing less from our international partners,” he added.

“In situations where disputes on maritime claims exist, UNCLOS provides clues as well as answers by which such maritime disputes could be addressed,” he said.

He also urged all parties to the ASEAN-China Declaration of Conduct in the South China Sea to faithfully abide by the provisions in the declaration, particularly on the need to “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability.”

“The Declaration of Conduct expresses in a concrete way our collective goal for rules-based action by all concerned parties,” he added.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario met Friday with the nine ambassadors and charges d’affaires of ASEAN member-states and briefed them on Philippine perspectives on recent developments in the West Philippine Sea.

No cause for upset
A “rules-based” multilateral approach to resolving disputes over some areas in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea should not upset China considering its own commitment to shun confrontation, Malacañang said yesterday.

“Our policy is to really have a rules-based, a multilateral approach to the settlement of the dispute. What we advocate is to actually for us to arrive at a peaceful resolution. We should really exhaust all diplomatic means,” deputy Palace spokesperson Abigail Valte said over state-run radio dzRB.

Valte said international laws like UNCLOS should be the basis for settling the territorial dispute.

“Our statements have always been very clear,” Valte said.

She also welcomed Australia’s call on parties involved in the territorial spat to adherence to international laws like UNCLOS.

Australia voiced its position through its top ministers in a joint statement with Philippine officials in the 3rd Philippine-Australia Ministerial Meeting in Canberra last Thursday.

On Friday, the Philippines called on ASEAN member-states to take a common stand on developments in the West Philippine Sea.

Also last Friday, President Aquino insisted that the country won’t be bullied by China in a territorial spat over the Spratly Islands and that Beijing should stop intruding into Philippine waters.

Aquino also told AP that a government-backed mission to scout the West Philippine Sea for oil and gas had turned up “very good” prospects, though he declined to elaborate. He said the Philippines reserved the right to explore its waters despite China’s rival claims.

China, which claims the Spratlys and all other waters in the South China Sea, last week demanded that its southern neighbors halt any oil exploration there without Beijing’s permission. Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao said, however, that China was open to joint exploration with other countries.

“We will not be pushed around because we are a tiny state compared with theirs,” Aquino said.

“We think we have very solid grounds to say ‘do not intrude into our territory’ and that is not a source of dispute or should not be a source of dispute,” the President said.

“We will continue with dialogues, but I think, for our internal affairs, we don’t have to ask anybody else’s permission,” he added.

Singapore encounter
One of the three US Navy warships participating in this year’s joint naval exercises called Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2011 in the waters of Palawan is now in Singapore where Haixun-31, China’s largest maritime patrol vessel, is also set to drop anchor.

Guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon is now moored at the Changi Naval Base.

Changi Naval Base is now the center of the ongoing US-led naval exercises dubbed SEACAT (Southeast Asian Cooperation Afloat Training). The navies of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei are joining the naval maneuver.

“The exercise is led by the US Navy and is centered this year in Changi, where the exercise’s command and control center is located,” Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay said.

It’s not clear if the US Navy destroyer is also taking part in SEACAT.

“Well, I could just surmise that there are lots of eavesdropping, surveillance and counter-surveillance activities now going on,” said a military official, who declined to be named. The CARAT exercise is set on June 28 to July 8.

At Fort Del Pilar in Baguio City, Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Oban said the military is prepared to deal with threats to the country’s sovereignty but expressed hopes diplomacy would prevail.

The vast South China Sea and West Philippine Sea form one of Asia’s most politically sensitive regions, with China, Vietnam and the Philippines trading diplomatic barbs recently over overlapping territorial claims. Vietnam’s navy conducted live-fire exercises Monday after accusing Chinese boats of disrupting oil and gas exploration in its waters.

The Aquino administration already has protested at least six incidents involving alleged Chinese intrusion into waters within the Philippines 320-kilometer exclusive economic zone that is covered by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In February, Manila accused Chinese naval ships of harassing an exploration ship near Reed Bank, an area 80 miles or 130 kilometers west of Palawan.

Liu said last week that China was exercising its sovereign rights over all of the South China Sea.

“The overall strategy, we’re not going to engage in an arms race with them. We are not going to escalate the tensions there but we do have to protect our rights,” Aquino said.

The battle for ownership of the potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands has settled into an uneasy standoff since the last fighting, involving China and Vietnam, that killed more than 70 Vietnamese sailors in 1988.

In 2002, the 10-member ASEAN and China signed a non-binding accord that calls for maintaining the status quo. China wants to engage claimants individually - against the wishes of countries like the Philippines that want to negotiate as a bloc.

Complicating the issue is the role the United States wants to play in resolving the dispute. It is a key Philippine defense treaty partner, which means that in case of a Chinese attack it is obligated to come to aid the Philippines.

US Ambassador Harry Thomas said last week that Washington would stand by the Philippines.

On Friday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland voiced US concerns about rising tensions in the South China Sea, and called for multilateral negotiations to settle disputes.

“We call on all parties to find a venue where we can have a collaborative negotiated resolution to these issues,” she told a news conference in Washington, without elaborating on who the parties would be.

The UK-based Forum Energy PLC, which has a contract with the government to explore the Reed Bank, has announced that it has completed seismic tests in the area and will process the data to identify the best location for drilling appraisal wells.

Forum Energy Robin Nicholson said in a statement in March that his company is looking forward “to making further investments into the project.”

The company said that in 2006, a seismic survey in an area in the Reed Bank indicated it contained 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas. - With Aurea Calica, Jaime Laude, Artemio Dumlao, AP