Code of conduct 'necessary'
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Asean must continue to press China for a code of conduct (CoC) in the South China Sea, despite setbacks and stalled negotiations, an international relations expert said on Monday.
Recent clashes between Chinese and Vietnamese patrol vessels in the fiercely contested Paracel Archipelago flared tensions between Beijing and the 10-member Asean bloc last month.
“That just goes to show the region needs a CoC ... hitting another boat should be off limits, and a CoC could prevent territorial disputes turning into open conflict,” Dr David Arase, a professor at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies, said.
China claims sovereign rights to more than 80 per cent of the South China Sea – home to strategic shipping lanes and potentially vast natural resources – overlapping with the territorial claims of several Asean members, namely Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.
Vietnam and the Philippines have been the most critical of China’s militarisation of the dispute, with Manila even filing a case with an international court in a bid to resolve maritime jurisdiction of the waters. However, claimants Brunei and Malaysia have been mostly silent, preferring not to publicly criticise China’s actions.
“Other claimants involved are watching things with great interest. Under Brunei’s leadership [of Asean] last year they have all pulled together to work for a code of conduct with China, and that shows there is wide support – not just among the claimants but from other Asean states – for engaging China in a peaceful dispute resolution process,” Arase said.
Though Beijing has agreed to negotiate with Asean over a code of conduct, formal negotiations have yet to begin, more than a year after both sides announced their intentions. “It is difficult to negotiate but I don’t think anyone would disagree that it’s not needed. People just have to work on it,” the professor said.
The legally-binding COC is seen to replace the non-binding “Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DoC)” – guidelines which took Asean and China 12 years to agree upon.
“If Asean maintains unity and is able to speak with one voice towards China, it will be able to influence China’s whole attitude on this issue and maybe even get it to agree on a CoC.”
He noted that Asean has been most successful diplomatically when it has stuck together. “The most important is not to throw up your hands and say ‘what can we do?’ I don’t think it requires a great deal of military force, but it requires a lot of political vision, diplomatic unity and a stronger Asean.”
Dr Arase was in Brunei Darussalam as part of one-day engagement holding discussions with the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
