{"id":236436,"date":"2019-11-03T08:04:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-03T13:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=236436"},"modified":"2019-11-03T08:04:27","modified_gmt":"2019-11-03T13:04:27","slug":"asean-leaders-very-concerned-about-scs-disputes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/11\/03\/asean-leaders-very-concerned-about-scs-disputes\/","title":{"rendered":"Asean leaders \u2018very concerned\u2019 about SCS disputes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte poses for a family photo with the leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries and the Premier of the State Council of the People\u2019s Republic of China Li Keqiang during the 22nd ASEAN-China Summit at the Impact Exhibition and Convention Center in Nonthaburi, Thailand on November 3, 2019. SIMEON CELI JR.\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— President Rodrigo Duterte and his nine fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) leaders are \u201cvery concerned\u201d about the long-standing disputes in the resource-rich South China Sea, Malaca\u00f1ang said Sunday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte and other Southeast Asian leaders have agreed to have a unity against \u201ccommon enemies,\u201d which include the problems in the contested South China Sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the Asean countries have one thing in common. First, all of them wanted to unite against common enemies. And they are all in one to cooperate in the same concern,\u201d Panelo said in a media interview in Nonthaburi, Thailand.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore particularly, I think, from what I observe is they are very concerned of what is happening in the South China Sea,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In his intervention during the 22nd Asean-China Summit on Sunday, the President reiterated his call for all South China Sea claimants, including Beijing, to avoid any actions that may complicate the situation in the strategic waterway.<\/p>\n

Duterte also renewed his call for the conclusion of the negotiations for the implementation of an \u201ceffective and substantive\u201d code of conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue to its name and nature, we aspire to have a Code that would guide the behavior of states on activities in the South China Sea, in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n

Asean and China have been working on a COC in the hope of putting an end to hostilities in the South China Sea, which remains under dispute among four Asean member-states, Beijing, and Taiwan.<\/p>\n

The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam are the four Asean member-states that are claiming parts of the South China Sea\u2019s vast waters believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits.<\/p>\n

Meantime, China and Taiwan are claiming almost the entire features of the busy waterway.<\/p>\n

The proposed COC in the South China Sea, which might take three years to be implemented, is a legally binding pact that aims to promote peace and stability in the hotly-contested waters.<\/p>\n

Panelo said the President\u2019s views accorded well with those of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang who expressed China\u2019s commitment to work with the Asean leaders for long-term peace and stability in the contested waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think countries are appreciative that China is open to a code of conduct. You must remember that China believes that the entire seas around it are theirs. Hence, they want to control it. The fact alone that it\u2019s opening itself to have a code of conduct where you will be observing certain rules that will be useful in preventing conflict is good enough,\u201d the Palace official said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want an effective and substantive Code of Conduct that will provide regional stability, as well as peace,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Self-restraint<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amid talks on the sea code, Duterte said sea claimants remain committed to the \u201cfull and effective\u201d implementation of the non-binding Declaration on the Code of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).<\/p>\n

The DOC, signed by 10 Asean member-states and China on Nov. 4, 2002, is aimed at exercising self-restraint and to prevent militarization within the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

The President emphasized that land reclamation, military buildup and paramilitary actions \u201cerode trust and confidence\u201d among concerned parties and \u201cexacerbate tensions\u201d in the disputed sea.<\/p>\n

Duterte\u2019s fellow Asean leaders agreed with him that all claimants in South China Sea should maintain their observance of self-restraint, Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll countries have asked everyone to observe self-restraint to avoid any activity that could lead to more friction and even armed hostilities between and among countries in the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On July 12, 2016, the Philippines won before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, Netherlands, after the arbitral court ruled that China\u2019s \u201cnine-dash\u201d claim covering almost the entire South China Sea was invalid.<\/p>\n

Despite Manila\u2019s historic victory, the President has opted to resolve the sea disputes through diplomatic negotiations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— President Rodrigo Duterte and his nine fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) leaders are \u201cvery concerned\u201d about the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":236437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236436","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\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236438,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236436\/revisions\/236438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}