Asean, China agree on West Philippine Sea guidelines

NUSA DUA—Officials from Southeast Asia and China agreed Wednesday on guidelines for cooperation in the West Philippine Sea, but diplomats conceded the deal was watered down in the quest for a compromise.

The agreement was reached after senior officials from both sides met during annual meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the Indonesian island of Bali, ahead of a gathering of their ministers on Thursday.

While the guidelines were hailed publicly as a “significant step” in resolving territorial disputes in the resource-rich area, diplomats privately played down its significance saying it lacked specifics.

Moreover, differences still remain on which areas of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) are being disputed after China laid claims to the entire region and the Philippines said it would seek UN arbitration to define the areas under contention.

“Through fruitful and constructive discussions and dialogue, we have been able to arrive, at our level, at an agreement on the draft guidelines,” said Pham Quang Vinh, Vietnam’s top senior foreign ministry official.

“This is a significant and good start for us to work together to continue dialogue and cooperation with a view to further promote this stability and confidence in the region,” he told reporters after the meeting.

China’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenmin said the officials would submit what they had approved to their ministers for final endorsement.

“This is an important milestone document on the cooperation among China and Asean countries,” Liu told reporters. “And we have a bright future and we are looking forward to future cooperation.”

The guidelines, which have been under negotiation for nearly 10 years, spell out ways to implement a declaration of West Philippines Sea claimants on the need for a code of conduct to govern activities in the area.

The ultimate objective is for China and Asean to agree on a legally-binding Regional Code of Conduct in the West Philippine Sea but diplomats have said this remains far off.

There have been several recent incidents between claimants, particularly involving China, in the West Philippine Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas and is a crucial route for global shipping trade.

A diplomatic source said the breakthrough came after Asean agreed to drop a paragraph referring to Asean meeting as a whole to discuss a common position before facing China on the issue.

Beijing had opposed this on the grounds that not all Asean countries are claimants to the West Philippine Sea.

Taiwan, China and Asean members Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia have overlapping claims to parts of the region.

Asean’s other members are Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed frustration Tuesday that the drawn-out talks over a code of conduct were making little progress.

A draft of the one-page guidelines seen by Agence France-Presse on Wednesday said they were meant “to guide the implementation of possible joint cooperative activities, measures and projects” in the area.

It said such projects must be reached by consensus, carried out on a voluntary basis and that experts should be consulted.

But the diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, said the number of projects that can be undertaken has been whittled down to included such “harmless” activities such as joint rescue in times of distress.

The West Philippine Sea issue has so far dominated the agenda of the five-day Asean meetings, which started Tuesday.

On Saturday, the Asean foreign ministers will be joined by US Secretary of State State Hillary Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the bigger Asean Regional Forum focused on security issues.