ASEAN Unity Crucial to Resolve South China Sea Disputes ...

Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Defense Dato’ Dr Abdul Latiff bin Ahmad reads Malaysian Defense Minister Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s keynote speech at a conference on “South China Sea Disputes” in Kuala Lampur on Oct. 17. (James Chow/Epoch Times Staff) Kuala Lumpur—To resolve the South China Sea dispute, ASEAN unity and an effective multilateral framework, as well as confidence building measures are important factors in how the issue is resolved, said Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Malaysia’s Minister of Defense during a keynote speech at an international conference on the South China Sea disputes.

“ASEAN has been too divided and fragmented over the [South China Sea] issue and hesitant to negotiate with Beijing from a position of strength,” said Ahmad.

“The Ingredient most obviously missing, but necessary for resolving the South China Sea embarrassment, is sustained confidence and transparency between the governments of Southeast Asia and China. Confidence and trust among fellow governments are critical for progress in successful negotiations. How to nurture and advance confidence building measures (CBMs) among claimant states remains critical for launching negotiations aimed at establishing a joint resource development authority for the South China Sea.

“An important first step is the pursuit of CBMs. Through CBMs, functional cooperation and direct communication could be fostered among the claimants as a means to preclude territorial disagreements from escalating into military confrontation.

“Measures for building confidence can lead to a better climate for negotiations and more positive results. International negotiations between governments involve people with emotions, deeply held values, and perceptions.

“Confidence building aims at making the political climate more conductive to certainty. Confidence building engenders working relationship where the trust, understanding, and respect built up over time can make subsequent negotiations easier, more efficient and more constructive,” said Ahmad.

“China and Vietnam have conducted bilateral negotiations at the deputy foreign minister level in Beijing to explore a ‘transitional and provisional solution for the sea issue.’ The problem is that there are few purely bilateral issues in the South China Sea as Chinese and Vietnamese claims overlap with those of the other claimants,” said Ahmad.

“Whether the way forward is through a code of conduct or through the establishment of a multilateral maritime security regime, success will depend much on the willingness of the United States and China to cooperate with each other and their ability to act in concert with other regional players, particularly Japan and ASEAN,” said Ahmad.

“In the long term, an inclusive and cooperative maritime security regime may not only help mitigate the effects of territorial disputes but also reduce threats to maritime safety and security, create new modalities for clarifying maritime jurisdiction issues, and even serve as a building block of the emergent regional security architecture. Looking at the bigger picture, such a framework would help moderate the great power rivalry to better ensure peace and stability in East Asia,” said Ahmad.

Ahmad said the South China Sea has been considered as a “hot spot” with what is currently a dispute, could escalate into arm conflict. The current peaceful situation should not be taken for granted, and conflict prevention initiatives should continue to maintain stability.

In his keynote speech, he mentioned the South China Sea region is the world’s second busiest international sea lane. More than half of the world’s supertanker traffic passes through the region’s waters. Freedom of navigation through the South China Sea, particularly through the choke points of the Taiwan Strait in the North and the Straits of Malacca in the South, remains essential to the region’s geo-strategic role in linking trade between Far East with the rest of the world.

Ahmad said that ASEAN in general and Malaysia in particular have been keen to ensure that the territorial disputes within the South China Sea do not escalate into armed conflict.

The South China Sea stretches thousands of kilometers from the Straits of Malacca in the south-west to the Straits of Taiwan in the north-east. The South China Sea has rich natural resources and is also one of the most important and strategic waterways.

Territorial claimants include Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and China, who all vie for different sectors of the straits.

Disputed areas include the Macclesfield Bank claimed by China, Taiwan, and the Philippines; the Paracel Islands, with claims from China, Vietnam and Taiwan; and the most southerly group of larger islands, the Spratly Islands, claimed in full by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and in part by the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei.

The tension in the South China Sea intensified when China claimed the “U-shaped line” or “Nine-dotted line” of maritime sovereignty on May 7, 2009 which covers a large part of the South China Sea.

The recent disputes happened on July 22 when an unidentified Chinese warship asked the Indian warship INS Airawak through a radio message to leave the maritime area near the Vietnamese coast that China claimed as their sovereignty. The July 22 incident has irked both India and Vietnam. India has rejected assertions shown by Beijing and has said that any country has the right of passage over the international maritime area according to United Nations Conference on Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).

The international conference on “South China Sea Disputes: The Road to Peace, Stability and Development”, jointly organized by Centre for Asian Strategic Studies-India (CASS-India) and ASEAN Studies and Global Affairs (INSPG), was held in a ballroom of Park Royal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on October 17. Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Defense Dato’ Dr Abdul Latiff bin Ahmad represented the Defense Minister to read the keynote speech.

13 speakers from India and Southeast Asia, mostly professors and lecturers, discussed the South China Sea disputes’ backgrounds, challenges and its potential resolutions. The speakers are Prof. Jaime B Naval (Philippines), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Azhari Abdul Karim (Malaysia), Dr. Arujunan Narayanan (Malaysia), Dato’ Prof. Dr. Qasim Ahmad (Malaysia), Dr. Kuik Cheng Chwee (Malaysia), Colonel Ramli H Nik (Malaysia), Ambassador Zainol Rahim Zainuddin (Malaysia), Adm. (Retd) Raman Puri (India), Prof. Baladas Ghoshal (India), Dr. Sunil Agarwal (India), Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh (Vietnam), Adm. (Retd) Rosihan Arsyad (Indonesia) and Ms. Connie Bakrie (Indonesia).

About 150 participants from concerned parties, universities and the public got a rare chance to listen to the regional experts of South China Sea issues share their views conveniently in one place.

Many speakers discussed the need to look into the development of a Code of Conduct (COC) to replace the non-legally binding Declaration of the code of conduct (DOC), including Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, who is an expert in South China Sea disputes. He said the DOC with no legally binding effect is not instrumental in resolving the South China Sea disputes.

“The 2002 DOC was an encouraging achievement of the parties to the South China Sea dispute towards peace and stability for the region. Unfortunately, after almost ten years of implementation, much of the content of the Declaration has not actually come into effect. As a recommendation document, the Declaration has failed to prevent the new round of tension, new occupation and new claims.

“This gives rise to the necessity of developing a binding COC. In addition to a mandatory effect, the future COC also needs to correct other weaknesses of the DOC. Among them are the indefinite scope of application, the broad-spectrum provisions on cooperation and confidence building, the lack of dispute settlement measures, and the ineffective conflict management measures,” said Dr. Nguyen.