Asean consensus eyed on Spratlys

SINGAPORE—As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) opens its summit of leaders in Bali, Indonesia, on Thursday, expectations are high for Asean to forge a consensus among member-countries and China on an initiative to resolve the long-running territorial dispute in West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Leaders of the 10-member Asean and those from its dialogue partners—the United States, China, Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Russia—will start arriving at the Indonesian resort island Wednesday for the 19th Asean Summit of Leaders and a host of related summits.

President Benigno Aquino III, who is cohosting the Asean-US Leaders’ Summit with US President Barack Obama, is scheduled to fly to Bali on Wednesday. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is also attending the summit.

According to Philippine officials here, a Philippine initiative to resolve the Spratlys dispute—which takes off from the framework to turn the West Philippine Sea into a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation (ZOPFF/C)—will figure highly in the agenda of the summit, and subsidiary meetings like the Asean-China commemorative summit and East Asia summit.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario was to unveil the initiative at the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting preceding the Bali summit.

The Philippines expects Asean to “assert its leadership” toward a peaceful resolution of conflicting claims over the potentially oil-rich Spratlys “by bringing in all the parties concerned,” said foreign undersecretary  Erlinda Basilio.

In recent months, the Spratlys issue has become an irritant between Asean countries and China, with the Philippines and Vietnam accusing China of incursions on their territorial waters.

The Spratlys, a chain of islets and atolls on the West Philippine Sea that is believed to be sitting on top of vast oil and gas reserves, are claimed in whole or in part by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.