MALAYSIA’S leader says Southeast Asian countries will avoid direct confrontation with China, but will push for a quick conclusion to a binding code of conduct to govern behavior in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Monday that the 10-member Asean’s nonconfrontational approach to the dispute has been effective in keeping tensions at bay.
He said at an Asean leaders’ summit that the bloc will pursue constructive engagement with China.
Najib indirectly rejected calls by the Philippines for Asean to stand up to China. Manila warned that Beijing was poised to take “de facto control” with its land reclamation in the area.
China, Taiwan and Asean members Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam have overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
Najib said respect for international law must be the basis of rules of engagement and activities in the South China Sea, as tensions rise over the waters, hosting some of the busiest shipping lanes.
Southeast Asian nations must address developments in the sea constructively, he said, without elaborating on incidents that have strained relations with China.
His comments came a day after the Philippines said the Asean needs to stand up to China on its reclamations in the South China Sea.
Disputes have escalated as China claims sovereignty over about four-fifths of the sea, according to the so-called nine-dash line map it drew in the 1940s, and expands the reach of its military to back its territorial interests and challenge decades of US naval dominance in the Pacific. The tensions risk overshadowing its trade and investment ties with Southeast Asia.
“Given the importance of its sea lanes to international trade, it is natural that almost any occurrence there will attract attention,” Najib said. “Asean must address these developments in a proactive, but also in a positive and constructive way.”
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario told his Asean counterparts on Sunday that the threats posed by China’s creation of artificial islands are real and cannot be ignored. China is “clearly and quickly advancing” reclamations and is poised to “consolidate de facto control” of the South China Sea, he said.
Stop reclamations
“Is it not time for Asean to say to our northern neighbor that what it is doing is wrong and that the massive reclamations must be immediately stopped?” del Rosario said. “On this most important issue, is it not time for Asean to finally stand up for what is right?”
China’s actions have caused uneasiness for neighbors, such as Vietnam and the Philippines who also claim some of the waters. It agreed to talks with Asean over a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea in July 2013, but little progress has been made. The government in Beijing signed a nonbinding declaration of conduct in 2002, which calls on parties to refrain from “inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays and other features.”
AP, Bloomberg News
Image credits: AP/Vincent Thian