UN needs to resolve territorial disputes

From the Manila Bulletin (Mar 2): UN needs to resolve territorial disputes

Members of the international community see the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) territorial dispute much the same way, according to the top British diplomat in Manila: they want a ruling from the United Nations on the conflict as soon as possible to avoid accidents and miscalculations among the co-claimants.

“I cannot think of any country in the world who can say that they’re comfortable with the rising tension in the region,” said British Ambassador Asif Ahmad in an interview at his official residence after reports came out about the “water canon” incident in the disputed Bajo de Masinloc involving Chinese vessels and Filipino fishermen.

What the international community wants, Ahmad emphasized, is for concerned parties to use the rules based system to resolve the on-going conflict in the region.

China claims about 90 percent of the 3.5 million square kilometer waters of the South China Sea which provides 10 percent of the global fish catch, carries $5 trillion a year in ship-borne trade and has a seabed believed to be rich in energy reserves. Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam also claim parts of the sea.

Last year, the Philippines took its dispute with China to arbitration under the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) but China refuses to participate.

Instead of asserting one’s claim by force or by stating one’s ownership of something that is disputed by someone else, Ahmad said, everybody should “go by established rules and say ‘this is the judgment of an arbitration.”

It does not matter, he stressed, if one is a member of the UN, or the European Union or the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). “If you belong to a society either formal or informal they all have rules which are clear to everybody. If you are (a member of any) club or institution you are asked to abide by those rules.”

“Instead of ignoring (these rules) like what we’re saying in a dispute like (the South China Sea), when there is border dispute, there are mechanisms in the UN through the UNCLOS where you can get guidance as to whether a particular maritime right can be extended to a particular island or rock that are sometimes covered or not covered,” Ahmad added. “These are very technical things.”

He said the same holds true with regards to the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) established by China in a disputed area in the East China Sea that obligates aircraft flying through the zone to provide identification and follow instructions or face defensive emergency measures from Chinese armed forces.

“You cannot suddenly declare that these zones are closed,” he pointed out. “You can’t do that with airspace, you have to have cooperation so that air traffic could be managed. There’ll be chaos if there’s no cooperation. You can’t claim airspace unilaterally.”

At the same time, he reiterated that the UK does not take sides on the dispute.

Ahmad explained that when British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague declared that the British government supports the rules based approach with regards to the West Philippine Sea dispute during his recent visit to the Philippines, this means UK does not take sides on the dispute.

“We’re not gonna say whether the Philippines or China is correct,” he stressed. “You’ve got to prove your case or argue your case and that you have every right to use this international rules and mechanism to have your case heard.”

But in any dispute, he said it is expected that people “would say things to make their case for their own constituency as well as to send a signal.”

“I can sense from both sides the strong feelings about the issue, the emotions involved in this dispute because patriots exist in every country,” said Ahmad. “That is why [there] are mechanisms to deal with these issues properly “in a cool headed way, where you make arguments by reason and by evidence.”

http://www.mb.com.ph/un-needs-to-resolve-territorial-disputes/