Phl pushes ASEAN meeting on sea dispute

MANILA, Philippines - The proposal to convene a special Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers meeting on the South China Sea is a work in progress, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said yesterday.

Del Rosario said the special meeting was suggested by Indonesia and claimant states in the region said it is a “very productive suggestion.”

“I think at this point they are still trying to obtain consensus on that,” del Rosario said.

“On the meeting of the claimant states, we think that is a very productive suggestion and we are endeavoring to make that happen. We do not have any dates yet but it is work in progress,” he said.

Thai acting Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Thailand is concerned about the situation in the South China Sea.

Thailand is the country coordinator for ASEAN-China bilateral relations.

He said Thailand wants to see the de-escalation of tension, with all sides reaching a confidence building measure and more cooperation wherever possible.

“What is important is the need for self-restraint. On the part of all parties, commitment to peaceful resolution and we see arbitration as a means of peaceful resolution, and most importantly, we want to see the early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea and full as well as the effective implementation of Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC),” Phuangketkeow said.

China is laying claim to virtually the whole South China Sea, in conflict with the maritime borders and territories of the countries in Southeast Asia.

China, for its part, has moved its oil rig away from waters claimed by Vietnam in a bid to end the tense standoff between the two nations.

Beijing, however, said it would not be stopped from carrying out exploration activities in the waters it considers its own.

The deployment of the oil rig was widely seen as part of a strategy by China of gradually staking out its claims in the South China Sea, all or part of which are also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

Following China’s pull-out of the oil rig from the waters claimed by Vietnam, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has widened its monitoring over the region to determine where the huge gas platform is headed to.

The AFP action was based on an earlier intelligence warning that Beijing’s ongoing energy and oil exploration in the Paracels would be gradually moving towards the Spratlys archipelago, specifically at the oil-rich Recto Bank.

Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Pio Gregorio Catapang said the Philippines would not lose Recto Bank to Chinese intruders.

The military, Catapang said, would continue to monitor the area as the government taps diplomatic channels to address the territorial row.

“We will report what is happening in the area and then we will follow whatever orders will be given to us by the Department of Foreign Affairs,” he added.

A senior security official revealed China has already deployed four oil rig platforms in the South China Sea, except for the one that Beijing has removed near the Paracel Islands.

He said the oil rigs are all pre-positioned east of the Spratlys.

Catapang said that the military’s territorial monitoring in the region will continue.

He said any military actions in the region to protect the country’s interests would have to be decided by the government.

Catapang said he would find ways to support the troops securing Philippine territories in the West Philippine Sea amid China’s efforts to shore up its presence in the area.

“We will just maintain our presence because our mandate is to protect our territorial interest in the area and we will find ways and means to improve our re-supply to our soldiers there,” he said.

Vietnam ambassador Truong Trieu Duong, who attended the AFP turnover of command to Catapang, lauded China’s pulling out of its oil rig from their territorial waters in the Paracels.

“It is good for China because the international community is watching them, including the United States and Australia,” Duong said.

Duong, however, said the decision of China to remove its oil rig from their territorial waters could be only temporary because of the prevailing bad weather in the area.

If indeed China is permanently pulling its giant oil rig platform out of the Vietnamese waters, this gesture is a welcome development for all the stakeholders in the region, he said.

“We do hope that China will not commit the same mistake again,” Duong said. – With Jaime Laude, Alexis Romero