Sea dispute still in limbo [-No CoC to show off?]

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Sea dispute still in limbo [-No CoC to show off?]

Delegates for the 20th ASEAN Summit gather at the Peace Palace yesterday for the Concluding Session. (Photo by Meng Kimlong)

Thursday, 05 April 2012
Vong Sokheng and Shane Worrell
The Phnom Penh Post

“There are so many different things ASEAN needs to focus on. Diverting attention away from them to a personal attack is fairly unprofessional.”

A code of Conduct governing the South China Sea remains only an “eventual” prospect, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday, despite it dominating discussions during this week’s ASEAN Summit.

From the beginning of Monday’s Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the question of China’s potential involvement in the drafting of a COC for the disputed body of water hung in the air.

But as the 20th summit wrapped yesterday at the capital’s Peace Palace, the question still lingered, leaving ASEAN nations Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam a long way from resolving conflicting claims they, China and Taiwan have to those waters.

In his role as ASEAN chairman, Hun Sen yesterday denied division among the leaders of the 10 ASEAN nations, saying they had “reaffirmed” the importance of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and would “intensify efforts” to fully implement it.

ASEAN had now resolved to “move for the eventual realisation of a regional code of conduct”, he said, adding the issue had always been on the agenda and contrary reports had resulted from a “misunderstanding”.

However, foreign ministers seemed to have different ideas as to the role China would play.

Emerging from the summit’s final meeting yesterday, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario – the most vocal ASEAN minister on the issue this week – said he was hopeful of a completed draft of the COC this year while Cambodia still chaired ASEAN.

“The new element we’ve introduced is that the drafting of the COC and the inclusion of the major elements should actually be made by ASEAN internally before China is invited,” he said, adding the plan allowed for China to be involved “after the approval of the COC”.

“That’s the target, that’s the aspiration,” del Rosario added.

But he was the sole minister making such a declarative statement about ASEAN’s path.

Comments from Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, meanwhile, actually seemed to suggest room for Chinese involvement.

Natalegawa said yesterday’s discussions had centred on how to fully implement the DOC, signed by ASEAN and China in Phnom Penh a decade ago.

“There will be constant communication to the ASEAN-China framework,” he said. “So whatever final position had always been on the summit’s agenda. “That is a serious misunderstanding. The South China Sea must always be in discussions until the completion of the Code of Conduct,” he said.

And it wasn’t just journalists who had gotten it wrong, he said, saying a certain “bald-headed doctor”, believed to be a reference to independent analyst Dr Lao Mong Hay, a critic of the China-Cambodia relationship, had also misread the situation.

“I regret the thinking of some political analysts, including the bald-headed doctor,” he said. “The Chinese president was not coming to talk about [the South China Sea]. Doctors, or [those who are] not doctors, should learn more information.”

The prime minister also used his time in front of the assembled international press to criticise a letter he said opposition leader Sam Rainsy had sent to Hu encouraging China to resolve the South China Sea dispute individually with each country involved.

It was “silly philosophy,” he said.

Yim Sovann, a spokesman for Sam Rainsy, said ASEAN meetings were places to discuss important issues, not attack someone’s opinions. “We should not take our internal differences into ASEAN meetings,” he said.

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said Hun Sen’s comments had given the world a glimpse of what the Cambodian government was like.

“The international community is watching ASEAN, and in a way, they get to see the real government,” he said.

“There are so many different things ASEAN needs to focus on. Diverting attention away from them to a personal attack is fairly unprofessional.”

Dr Lao Mong Hay said Hun Sen, “as head of government”, had the right to make such comments.

“I don’t assume it is me Hun Sen is referring to . . . there are other commentators,” he said.