Sea rows bug Apec summit on free trade

APEC POWER Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum wear the traditional Indonesian dress at their summit in Bali. President Aquino is in the back row (fourth from right) along with US Secretary of State John Kerry (extreme right). In front row are Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (ninth from left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (11th from left). RYAN LIM/MALACAÑANG PHOTO/PLDT POWERED BY SMART

BALI, Indonesia—Sea disputes involving China, Japan and Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, bubbled beneath the surface of the annual gathering of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec), which was aimed at forging a consensus on freer regional trade.

In speeches and meetings, territorial tangles between China and most of its neighbors were a constant subtext, even as Apec leaders on Tuesday vowed to cooperate on stabilizing a global economic recovery threatened by resource scarcity and bottlenecks to growth.

The summit, held this year on the Indonesia resort island of Bali, gave regional leaders a chance to talk through issues in formal and informal settings. The grouping of nations and territories includes over 3 billion people and more than half of the world economy, ranging from tiny Brunei to powerhouses such as China, Japan and the United States.

“The close collaboration will result in a win-win situation, especially at a time when the world economy has yet to fully recover,” Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in concluding the summit.

In their declaration, leaders of the Apec forum wrapped up their meeting with a pledge to protect security of food, energy and water from threats posed by climate change and population growth.

“As our region increasingly becomes the main engine of global growth, we are called by the duty to look ahead, to adapt to our changing needs, and to reinvigorate the path toward progress in the Asia-Pacific,” the group said in its declaration.

It also pledged cooperation on improving infrastructure such as roads, bridges and ports to make the region seamless for commerce. Most of the Apec declaration was a reiteration of longstanding goals.

Later Tuesday, leaders of the dozen countries involved in US-led free-trade negotiations called the Trans-Pacific Partnership are set to report on their progress. They hope to seal an agreement by the end of this year.

“It’s an ambitious goal,” said US Trade Rep. Michael Froman. “Ultimately, the substance will drive the timetable. We’re not going to agree to a bad deal for just the sake of meeting a deadline. But there’s a lot of momentum.”

China-Japan row

Soured ties between China and Japan surfaced after Beijing was announced as the host of next year’s meeting, putting renewed focus on the testy relationship between the two Asian powers.

No progress was achieved on a stalemate between China and Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the door is open to dialogue, but Tokyo is steadfastly refusing to discuss the conflicting claims over the uninhabited islands called the Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyus in China.

With the two sides so far apart, the closest the two leaders may have gotten to speaking at the Apec forum was a brief handshake.

China will host the annual Apec summit next year and many preliminary meetings before that. The recent souring of ties, which flared into anti-Japanese riots last year, prompted top Beijing officials to stay away from an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Tokyo in 2012.

Japanese officials said they did not anticipate any problems with the Apec meeting in Beijing. But they were more forthcoming when asked about Chinese criticism of defense collaboration between Japan, Australia and the United States.

“These three countries are not only bound by treaties, but these countries value openness and rules-based structures,” said Tomohiko Taniguchi, a councilor in Abe’s Cabinet. “We have to team up together to preserve the freedom of movement of goods in these public spaces.”

US President Barack Obama’s absence from the Apec summit due to the impasse with Congress over the budget was a letdown for other leaders.

US Secretary of State John Kerry sought to fill the Obama vacuum by saying nothing will shake America’s commitment to Asia and that the government shutdown in Washington would soon be over and forgotten.

Code of conduct

Territorial disputes between Southeast Asia and China that center on the latter’s vast claims to the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) were also under discussion.

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean) hope to agree on a common policy in handling territorial disputes, an aim backed by Tokyo. Beijing, in principle committed to such a policy, says it is not in a hurry to quickly conclude the talks.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, speaking to Filipino journalists on Monday evening, said there was some progress in talks between Asean and China toward drafting a code of conduct to govern how the parties solve territorial disputes.

“I am not saying that the signing of the code of conduct is near,” the Philippine leader said. “But to convince everyone to talk about—and it is really being discussed—I think is progress in finding a solution to the rift over sovereignty.”

He said that after being on the backburner for 10 years, “the issue is now at the forefront of everyone’s thinking.”

As many in the region worry over mishaps that could trigger further conflict, both China and Japan sought in Bali to reassure their neighbors over their peaceful intentions—Japan because of its wartime past, China because of its growing assertiveness as a rising economic and military power.

Meetings between Abe and his Vietnamese and Indonesian counterparts touched on their disputes with China over islands and waters in the South China Sea, said Kuni Sato, press secretary at the Japanese foreign ministry.

Many of the leaders gathered in Bali will go straight to Brunei for the annual Asean summit, where the same issues could take on an even higher profile.