PHNOM PENH — Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario yesterday denounced Chinese “duplicity” and “intimidation” in the South China Sea, souring the mood at a regional summit designed to soothe tensions.
“If Philippine sovereignty and jurisdiction can be denigrated by a powerful country through pressure, duplicity, intimidation and the threat of the use of force, the international community should be concerned about the behavior,” he told the summit, according to an official statement.
Del Rosario was referring to a recent standoff between Chinese and Philippine boats at a rocky outcrop called the Scarborough Shoal, which is claimed by the Philippines.
Del Rosario said Beijing’s increasingly assertive stance over disputed and non-disputed areas of the South China Sea posed a “threat to the peace and stability” in the Asia Pacific region.
“If left unchecked, the increasing tension that is being generated in the process could further escalate into physical hostilities which no one wants,” he said at the Asean Regional Forum, which was also attended by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“This puts in greater jeopardy the remarkable economic dynamism of our region which was made possible by the relative peace and stability that prevailed in the past years.”
Clinton, meanwhile, urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to take a stand on the three-month impasse between China and the Philippines at Scarborough Shoal, warning that such territorial dispute could eventually threaten all 10 members of the regional bloc.
“What might be a challenge today for some of Asean’s members, if left unaddressed by all of Asean, could lead tomorrow to issues that may become problems for (the rest of) other Asean members,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) quoted Clinton as saying during the Asean-US ministerial meeting in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
It was the first major call on the Asean, which is currently led by Cambodia, to take a clearer and stronger stand on the long-simmering territorial rift in the West Philippines Sea, also known as South China Sea, which involves four Asean members — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
China and Taiwan are also involved in the dispute, which has long been feared as Asia’s next potential flashpoint for a major armed conflict.
Beijing virtually claims the whole of South China Sea, which is dotted by clusters of islands, cays, shoals and reefs, and teems with rich fishing areas. The vast sea is also believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits and is regarded as among the world’s most strategic and busiest waterways.
Clinton also urged the Asean to act fast and finalize a regional Code of Conduct, a proposed legally binding pact with China aimed at preventing the territorial conflict from degenerating into armed confrontation by enacting rules that would discourage aggression.
Cambodia, a key ally of China, has been hosting the week-long annual Asean ministerial meetings as chairman of the bloc, which also includes Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
Asean has been criticized for failing to take stronger and rapid steps to ease the territorial conflict in the South China Sea. The Philippines has urged the bloc to speak up after Filipino vessels figured in a dangerous standoff with Chinese ships at Scarborough Shoal last April 10.
But the dispute at the shoal dragged on for months without Asean collectively issuing any statement. Asean, through Cambodia, has to issue a joint communiqué on different issues after this week’s ministerial meetings that are expected to touch on the South China Sea conflicts.
Asean members have been seen by analysts as having been divided in their political alliances between Asian powerhouse China and the United States, which has been trying to reassert its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Cambodia, which has received huge economic assistance and investments from China, has promised to be an impartial chairman of the Asean meetings despite concerns it would toe Beijing’s line on most issues, including the South China Sea territorial row.
The Philippines and Vietnam, on the other hand, have separately increased their military engagements with Washington as they confronted China in fresh territorial incidents in the disputed waters.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who is leading the Philippine delegation in Phnom Penh, told fellow Asean ministers “that the current situation in the West Philippine Sea deserves urgent attention from Asean because it has direct impact on unimpeded commerce and freedom of navigation in the region,” the DFA said in a statement issued in Manila.
Del Rosario said the territorial conflicts should be resolved through a United Nations maritime treaty signed by the Philippines, China and 162 other governments for any solution to gain international recognition and respect.
“The adherence of all countries in the region to a set of fair and transparent rules, as embodied in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, will generate greater mutual trust and respect in the region,” Del Rosario said.
UNCLoS gives maritime states the right to develop, explore and exploit areas up to 200 nautical miles from its shores - coastal waters the UN treaty calls Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of a country like the Philippines.
China has frowned on bringing the territorial dispute to any international arena or forum such as the Asean, preferring to negotiate with each of the other rival claimants in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, Clinton and her Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi also yesterday pledged to work more closely together after talks designed to soothe their countries’ often spiky relations. After a meeting in Cambodia, Clinton sought to highlight areas of common interest such as disaster relief and disease control, which she said were “an important signal that the US and China not only can, but will work together in Asia.”
Yang said “China and US relations have continued to make progress this year,” adding both sides had agreed to “enhance our dialog... to continue to expand our common ground.”
The display of togetherness on the sidelines of a regional Asian security meeting came despite constant friction in the world’s most significant bilateral relationship, which is linked to China’s economic and military rise.
There have been concerns the US’s new foreign policy “pivot” to focus on Asia, where it hopes to counter China’s enormous clout, could antagonize Beijing ahead of a leadership transition later this year.
Clinton had been expected in Cambodia in conciliatory mood. At the same Asian summit in 2010, she had angered China by saying the US had a “national interest” in the disputed South China Sea.
These disputes have been the biggest issue at the Asean Regional Forum and a new spat between China and Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea on Wednesday provided an ominous background for Thursday’s talks.
Clinton said earlier Thursday that nations should settle their territorial disputes “without coercion, without intimidation, without threats, and without use of force.”
She again urged progress on the long-stalled code of conduct for the South China Sea to avoid “confusion and even confrontation” over shipping and fishing rights in the resource-rich waterway which is home to key shipping lanes.
There are little signs of movement on the code, however, with Southeast Asian nations in regional bloc Asean divided over what should be included and China apparently in no mood to begin discussions, diplomats say.
China has earlier said it would only begin negotiating the code with Asean “when conditions are ripe.”
“The qualifying statement — when the time is ripe — means that planned talks in September (to advance on formulating a code) are unlikely to take place,” one Asian diplomat told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.