PHL, Vietnam want early negotiations on Code of Conduct

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 1): PHL, Vietnam want early negotiations on Code of Conduct

The Philippines and Vietnam want their Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) group to take a “giant step” by pushing China to agree on early negotiations for a Code of Conduct in the disputed South China Sea than just having consultations this year, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Thursday.

Del Rosario said he and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh agreed in their meeting in Manila Thursday to convince the 10-member bloc in a scheduled meeting in Hua Hin, Thailand Aug 13 -14 that efforts to craft the Code of Conduct, which aims to stop aggressive actions and prevent clashes in the disputed sea, should be expedited.

“We want them to take a giant step on China,” Del Rosario told reporters.

“It’s supposed to be a consultation meeting but we want to be able to bring it to a negotiations stage.”

ASEAN and several governments, including the United States and Japan, have called for immediate drafting of a code of conduct which many hoped can prevent skirmishes among rival claimant countries from becoming violent in the South China Sea.

Many governments fear that the territorial rifts can trigger a major armed conflict and disrupt the freedom of navigation in thr busy shipping lanes.

“Consultation probably is not enough. We need to talk about negotiations,” Del Rosario said.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia,and Brunei and Taiwan have competing claims over the South China Sea, now called West Philippine Sea by Manila.

“We want to convince the others that it would be more fruitful if we tried to seek a negotiating meeting very quickly after the consultations,” he added.

ASEAN groups Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

In 2002, ASEAN and China signed a non-bonding code of conduct that calls on all claimants to exercise restraint and stop new occupation in the South China Sea.

However, its non-binding nature and lack of provision to sanction misbehaving claimants, renders the accord useless against aggression.

China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over the entire waters, where undersea gas deposits have been discovered in several areas, even as it overlaps with the territories of its Asian neighbors.

Manila has sought international arbitration to try to declare as illegal China’s massive claim.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=550521