Southeast Asian leaders yesterday called for swift agreement on a code of conduct for the South China Sea based on international law, while demanding an immediate halt to fighting in Myanmar and inclusive peace talks to end its civil war.
The ASEAN chairman’s statement represents the consensus from meetings ended on Friday of the 10 member nations in Laos, which included diplomats from the US, Russia, China, Japan, India and South Korea.
Confrontations have been rising in disputed waters of the South China Sea between China, which claims sovereignty over almost all of the vital waterway, and ASEAN members including the Philippines and more recently Vietnam.
Photo: Reuters
The rows have raised risks of an escalation that could eventually involve the US, which is bound by treaty to defend the Philippines if it is attacked.
The sea, where US$3 trillion worth of trade passes annually, has been a major point of contention at the ASEAN meetings, particularly with Russia and China objecting to a reference to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a US official said on Saturday.
The ASEAN statement called for confidence-building measures that could “reduce tensions and the risk of accidents, misunderstandings and miscalculation” in the South China Sea.
It cited “positive momentum” in talks on a maritime code that could help settle disputes. China and ASEAN agreed on this in 2002, but the formal process of creating one did not start until 2017.
The bloc “looked forward to the early conclusion of an effective and substantive” code of conduct that is “in accordance with international law,” including the UN convention, the statement said.
On Myanmar’s spiraling war, ASEAN called for “an immediate cessation” of violence and the creation of a “conducive environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogue” that is “Myanmar-owned and -led.”
The war between ASEAN member Myanmar’s military government and an expanding armed resistance is a major concern for the bloc, which has made little progress on a five-point peace plan, unveiled months after the 2021 coup that brought the junta to power.
About 18.6 million people, more than a third of Myanmar’s population, are estimated to need humanitarian assistance.
ASEAN welcomed Thailand’s initiative to host informal talks on Myanmar, possibly joined by other ASEAN members, later this year.
Meanwhile, the US official said that Russia and China blocked a proposed consensus statement for the East Asia Summit drafted by ASEAN, mainly over objections to language on the contested South China Sea.
The statement arrived at by consensus by ASEAN was put to the 18-nation East Asia Summit meeting in Laos on Thursday evening, the official said.
“ASEAN presented this final draft and said that, essentially, this was a take-it-or-leave-it draft,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The US, Japan, Australia, South Korea and India all said they could support it, the official said, adding that “the Russians and the Chinese said that they could not and would not proceed with a statement.”
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