Asean should not take sides

I wish to make some clarifications.

The 45th Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) held in Phnom Penh on July 9 discussed many key issues, particularly those related to the advancement of Asean-community building. The resulting proposed joint communiqué contained more than 130 key points, on only one of which the Asean foreign ministers could not reach a consensus. The Philippines and Vietnam appeared to be bent on making the communiqué a hostage of their respective national positions.  

As the chair of Asean, Cambodia deeply regretted that it was unable to issue a joint communiqué due to demands by both the Philippines and Vietnam to include the issues of the Scarborough Shoal and Vietnam’s claims to the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf. It is not acceptable for Asean to have the communiqué held hostage to the claims of the Philippines and Vietnam regarding the South China Sea.

Cambodia is of the view that the AMM is not a court that can rule against or in favour of anybody in relation to the bilateral disputes between the Philippines and China and between Vietnam and China. Cambodia’s position of principle is that Asean should not take sides. 

As the chair of Asean, Cambodia wishes that all the parties concerned should have the chance to find a peaceful solution to disputes in the future.

As Asean chair, Cambodia made great efforts to push for the signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002. The DOC, in fact, contains sufficient political and legal aspects for all the parties concerned to implement and thereby find a peaceful resolution to the disputes in the South China Sea. 

It should be noted that the joint communiqués of the previous Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meetings only mentioned the issue of the South China Sea in general, and made no reference to any specific islands or areas in the area. Therefore it was unprecedented that some member states of Asean imposed an ultimatum that the bilateral conflicts must be included in the communiqué or else it would be rejected altogether. 

You Ay,

Ambassador of Cambodia

Bangkok