{"id":130259,"date":"2017-11-10T21:10:14","date_gmt":"2017-11-11T02:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=130259"},"modified":"2017-11-10T21:10:14","modified_gmt":"2017-11-11T02:10:14","slug":"coc-on-scs-only-viable-solution-to-manage-sea-row-dfa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/10\/coc-on-scs-only-viable-solution-to-manage-sea-row-dfa\/","title":{"rendered":"COC on SCS only viable solution to manage sea row: DFA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: While the adoption of a Code of Conduct (COC) on South China Sea is only expected to manage maritime disputes, not resolve it, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Acting Spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar said it is the \u201conly viable solution\u201d available for ASEAN and China to pursue. (PNA photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u2014 While the\u00a0adoption of a Code of Conduct (COC) on South China Sea is only expected to manage maritime disputes, not resolve it, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Acting\u00a0Spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar said it is the \u201conly viable solution\u201d available for\u00a0ASEAN and China to pursue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are going to express pessimism even before the start of negotiations, if I may return the question, what kind of alternatives (would you offer)?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In an interview with reporters before the 31st<\/sup>\u00a0Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Related Summits officially kick off, Bolivar said the hope is for\u00a0ASEAN and China to formulate a \u201cmore binding\u201d document than the 2002 Declaration of Conduct in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng tingin ko diyan, everything is on the table, it’s just a matter on how the negotiators of each countries will position themselves to make a document that everyone can get behind pero ang hirap kasi hindi pa nga nagsisimula pessimism ka na agad.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Stratbase ADR Institute for Strategic and International Studies (ADRi)\u00a0\u00a0ASEAN Leadership Forum in Makati City, Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, said that there’s “nothing wrong” with the idea of pursuing the\u00a0COC but if that’s the only move parties will have,\u00a0his organization will express “disappointment.”<\/p>\n

“ASEAN negotiated the non-binding\u00a0DOC in 2002. It took 15 years to negotiate a one-page outline that just restated the exact same thing we’re going to do in the\u00a0DOC,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The idea that this\u00a0is going to\u00a0lead to a binding way to manage things like fisheries depletion, oil and gas development\u00a0or coastguard cooperation is a fantasy,” Poling added.<\/p>\n

Last Wednesday, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said a strategic build-up of defense capabilities is one alternative if adherence to rule of law is not followed.<\/p>\n

Citing “experts\u2019\u2019, Del Rosario said countries of the region should thoughtfully ramp up their defense transfers and invest in select military platforms as a matter of necessity. \u2018\u2019Although a cycle of reactive militarization will surely raise the stakes and the tension, this may still be a prudent path,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

For his part, Bolivar said if the Philippines would fund\u00a0for the strengthening of military\u00a0in the area, it is unthinkable what other countries may do.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if the Philippines puts money in arms, how do you think Indonesia will react, how do you think Malaysia will react, (and) Brunei and Vietnam?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMagkakaroon tayo ng environment that will lead to an arms race? Is that what we really want?\u201d, Bolivar added.<\/p>\n

During an ambush interview in the International Media Center at the World Trade Center on Friday, Bolivar called out the experts for “‘criticizing what hasn’t happened yet”.<\/p>\n

”’We are only at the point of announcing the start of the negotiations, the negotiations haven’t even started yet. I think it may be a bit unfair for us to criticize the Code of Conduct when it’s not there yet. Let’s see what happens during the negotiation,” he said.<\/p>\n

“‘If I may return the question back to the critics, back to the analysts, please give us more viable alternatives if you dont think the Code of Conduct will work even though you haven’t seen the code of conduct yet,” he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u2014 While the\u00a0adoption of a Code of Conduct (COC) on South China Sea is only expected to manage maritime disputes, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":109288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[3448,9396,32393,1039],"class_list":["post-130259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-code-of-conduct","tag-department-of-foreign-affairs","tag-maritime-disputes","tag-south-china-sea","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}