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Discourse: ASEAN urgently needs binding code of conduct on SCS with China: Le Luong Minh
Le Luong Minh
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Le Luong Minh. JP/Jerry
The South China Sea (SCS) dispute and China's growing military might and its increasing assertiveness has posed a major threat to peace and security in the Southeast Asian region. ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh talks to The Jakarta Post's Veeramalla Anjaiah in Yangon, on how ASEAN should manage the potential conflict and deal with maritime challenges. The following are the excerpts of the interview.
Question: China's increasing assertiveness has become one of major threats to Southeast Asian security and unity. What are ASEAN's initiatives to resolve this issue?
Answer: Maintenance of peace and stability in the region is ASEAN's foremost priority. ASEAN has provided the platform for dialogue and cooperation among ASEAN member states as well as between ASEAN and other external parties on these issues.
This platform is based on the shared values and norms and several ASEAN mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum [ARF], the East Asia Summit [EAS], the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus [ADMM-Plus] and the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum [EAMF].
Through these frameworks, confidence is built up through dialogue and cooperation and differences must be resolved amicably and peacefully. This cardinal principle also applies to the SCS issue.
There are two key mechanisms through which ASEAN has consistently and actively engaged with China to maintain and promote peace and stability in the SCS, namely the Declaration on the Conduct [DOC] of Parties in the SCS, and the work toward the conclusion of a code of conduct [COC] in the SCS.
However, the DOC is not an end in itself and it does provide for the conclusion of a COC. Complex developments and incidents in recent years have pointed to the urgent need for a binding COC. The COC is seen as an instrument that pursues the purposes and principles of the DOC further by preventing and managing incidents should they occur.
ASEAN and China have had three rounds of formal consultation on the COC, the latest on April 21, 2014 in Pattaya, Thailand, and both sides committed to continue this process.
An assertive China, apparently, may be talking to ASEAN but it is not sending signals that it would agree to the COC. What will be ASEAN's options if China rejects the COC?
As I mentioned earlier, the implementation of the DOC has not been without challenges.
In this context, the COC would better serve the objective of preventing and managing incidents in the SCS that would benefit both ASEAN and China.
The COC process is now on track and has received the commitment from ASEAN and China, as reflected in the Joint Statement of the 16th ASEAN-China Summit on Commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership last year.
This political commitment needs to be substantiated by concrete action. Given the recent developments, which have further complicated the situation at sea, it is imperative that the ongoing consultations on the COC be expedited and more substantive with a clear-cut time frame with a view to achieving its early conclusion.
How do you see the role of Indonesia, a non-claimant country, in resolving the SCS dispute and forge a maritime cooperation among China and ASEAN members?
Indonesia has all that it takes to play a critical role in forging maritime cooperation in the region and to play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the SCS. Indonesia has important strategic, security and economic interests in the SCS although it is not a claimant state.
As an active and responsible member of ASEAN, Indonesia has played a leading role in forging ASEAN's common approach when it comes to the SCS issue. This common approach is crystallized in the ASEAN's Six-Point Principles on the SCS adopted in 2012, which has been the basis for ASEAN to engage with China on this issue. We should be reminded that it was Indonesia that initiated the process to arrive at these principles.
Do you welcome outside powers in dealing with maritime challenges in SCS?
The challenges not only take on traditional but also non-traditional dimensions, including safety and freedom of navigation, marine environment degradation, illegal fishing, piracy and other maritime transnational crimes. These challenges are all intertwined and respect. Addressing these, therefore, requires concerted efforts of all countries concerned.
Given the strategic importance of Southeast Asia's maritime domain to the global economy and security, it is only natural that such major nations in the world have a stake in peace, stability and maritime security in our region.
