CPR Foundation hosts forum on West Phl Sea

MANILA, Philippines - The Carlos P. Romulo Foundation for Peace and Development, in collaboration with the Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore (ISEAS), will host a forum on West Philippine Sea on Oct. 17, 2011 in Metro Manila CPR Foundation chairman Roberto R. Romulo said. There will be 23 notable former officials and authorities from academe speaking from ASEAN countries, China, Australia, India, Canada, the United States, and Europe.

   Tensions between claimants to the potentially oil rich waters and land features of the South China Sea, where also a quarter of the world’s shipping passes, has risen to potentially dangerous levels with incidents involving China, the Philippines and Vietnam in recent months. All claimants agree that the disputes should be resolved through peaceful means, including dialogue, although progress has been slow.

   The conference is intended to provide an avenue for Track II discussions, in which non-officials (scholars, retired civil and military officials, public figures, and civil society) can engage in dialogue, discussing ideas and solutions that might not be possible in formal negotiations presently, but that could, over time, in?uence official thinking and, ultimately, policy. The conference will help more clearly define the South China Sea issue in its totality, with all concerned participating and with the goal of identifying common interests. The hope is that this will help governments in conducting their official dialogues with one another.

On Oct. 16, there will be a closed-door session labeled “Informal Session: Scene Setting”. “Chatham House Rules” will apply: participants are free to use the information received but neither the identity nor affiliation of the speaker, nor that of any other participant, may be revealed. The chairman of this session will be former Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro.

The forum chairman on Oct. 17 will be former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Domingo L. Siazon Jr. Opening speakers will be Chen Shiqui, Frank Wisner, and a third speaker who has been invited but not yet confirmed.   Chen is Professor at China Foreign Affairs University and at Xi’an Jiaotong University. He was a former Director-General of Treaties and Law at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a former Ambassador to Indonesia and to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Vienna. Wisner is currently international affairs advisor of Patton Boggs LLP, a former American ambassador to the Philippines, India and Egypt, and a former undersecretary of defense and undersecretary of state. In the private sector he was previously a vice-chairman of AIG.

During the Oct. 17 forum (by invitation only), there will be three sessions. Session One will be “Issues” chaired by former ASEAN Secretary General Rodolfo Severino and currently Head of the ASEAN Studies Centre, ISEAS. Session Two will be “Claims and Interests” chaired by former Philippine Ambassador to China Romualdo Ong. Session Three will be “Towards Peace and Prosperity in the South China Sea: Pathways for Regional Cooperation.” The session chair will be Dato Timothy Ong of Brunei Darussalam, who is Chairman of Asia Inc. Forum and former Acting Chair of the Brunei Economic Development Board. For further information, contact Melanie Reyes at [email protected].