Several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations finally called this week for a halt to reclamation activities in the South China Sea – weeks after Beijing announced it had completed its reclamation. ASEAN action on raging issues can move slower than the wheels of Philippine justice, so the statement of concern expressed by several members of the grouping including forum host Malaysia can be considered progress enough.
The statement, which has yet to be formalized by the grouping, comes too late to stop something that is already finished. At the ASEAN Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, China’s foreign minister also made clear yesterday that with the reclamation completed, construction of facilities on the artificial islands they have created in the South China Sea would continue.
China is building a 3,000-meter runway on Kagitingan or Fiery Cross Reef, 740 nautical miles from its southern shores, which analysts warn will be used to project Chinese military power in disputed waters. A think-tank believes China is preparing to build a second airstrip on another artificial island.
ASEAN’s resistance to issuing a common statement on the issue was one of the factors that drove the Philippines to seek United Nations arbitration. The country is asking the arbitral tribunal to define its maritime entitlements under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which allots a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone to each coastal nation. Bangladesh won two similar cases it had brought before the same UN tribunal against neighboring Myanmar and India.
Both Myanmar and India complied with the UN ruling. On the other hand, China, which is a signatory to UNCLOS like the Philippines, has refused to even participate in the UN arbitration and has questioned the tribunal’s jurisdiction over the dispute. ASEAN, whose individual members have different degrees and types of cooperation with China, has failed to come up with a common stand on the issue.
The statement from Kuala Lumpur is encouraging but is hardly enough. By the time ASEAN manages to unite for a common statement, Fiery Cross is likely to have become a naval and air force base, with the Chinese controlling one of the world’s busiest maritime routes.