EDITORIAL - Code of conduct

Unless someone tampered with it, the video footage of that encounter on May 29 between a Vietnamese fishing boat and a larger Chinese vessel clearly shows the boat being pursued and then rammed by the big ship. The Chinese ship then left the Vietnamese boat to sink with its crew.

It was a clear, sunny day near the Paracel Islands so it was unlikely that the Chinese failed to notice the Vietnamese boat. Before the video emerged, the Chinese said they were harassed by the Vietnamese boat in disputed waters near the spot where Beijing is setting up an oilrig, leading to a collision. The video clearly shows that the sinking was not accidental and the Vietnamese were left to drown.

The incident gives the latest indication that Beijing is prepared to use force to stake its claim over nearly all the waters around it. From its reaction to the international arbitration pursued by the Philippines on maritime rights, it can also be surmised that Beijing prefers force to a peaceful settlement, based on international rules, of overlapping claims.

Following this stance, it’s uncertain that Beijing will forge – much less abide by – a code of conduct in disputed waters with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Nevertheless, the ugly incident involving the Vietnamese fishing boat should encourage ASEAN to work on the code with urgency. This part of the world prospered in the past three decades due in large part to an environment that until recently was among the world’s most peaceful and stable.

That peace has been under strain particularly since Xi Jinping replaced Hu Jintao at China’s helm, as Beijing, not content with having Asia’s largest landmass, now stakes a claim on nearly all the waters around it. Chinese fishermen have ventured as far away as Palau and Alaska, apparently in the belief that as long as their boats can move on the water, it must be part of China.

After the sinking of the Vietnamese boat, all parties must work for a code of conduct to prevent any country from claiming territory by force. This is if Asia does not want regional peace shattered.