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Dialogue could help build trust in South China Sea: Official
Informal dialogues, often referred to as second-track diplomacy, could help build trust and eventually promote conflict resolution in the disputed South China Sea, an Indonesian Foreign Ministry official has said
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span>Informal dialogues, often referred to as second-track diplomacy, could help build trust and eventually promote conflict resolution in the disputed South China Sea, an Indonesian Foreign Ministry official has said.
The ministry and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies recently hosted a regular seminar on managing potential conflict in the South China Sea. About 54 experts from countries along the South China Sea rim participated in the event on Sept. 10 to 12 in Batam, Riau Islands. It was the 29th seminar since they were first held in 1990.
“This kind of attempt to resolve the South China Sea issue through second-track diplomacy is easier to do because it builds trust among us," the head of the Foreign Ministry's policy analysis and development agency, Siswo Pramono, said at the event.
The South China Sea, where four ASEAN countries — Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam — are at odds with China, has economic potential that, according to Siswo, could also be turned into an opportunity for economic cooperation to help resolve the territorial disputes.
"This is what everyone should understand — do we want conflicts that continue to hamper the economy or do we want to work together while resolving conflicts peacefully?" Siswo said.
Hasjim Djalal from the Center for Southeast Asian Studies said such an informal dialogue has helped create a better understanding of the South China Sea issue.
"Through dialogue we understand the views of others while others also understand our perspectives," he said, adding that although experts from Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam attended the event in their individual capacities, they could help give input to conflict resolution.
The resource-rich South China Sea, which is one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes, lies at the center of a decades-long dispute between China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Indonesia is not a claimant in the dispute but is at odds with China over rights to its exclusive economic zone, which eventually led to the area being renamed the North Natuna Sea.
In July, ASEAN foreign ministers called for an environment that is conducive to continued negotiations for a code of conduct (COC) in the South China Sea as a standoff between China and Vietnam in the latter’s economic territory was feared to cause growing anxiety in the region.
Concerns over China’s behavior emerged only a week after ASEAN member states and China completed the first reading of the draft COC, a set of provisions to manage and prevent conflict in the contested waters.
At the ASEAN Summit in November last year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said negotiations on the COC could be completed in three years.
The edict is mandated in the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea, which China has delayed for years.
