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President Xi, let’s sign the South China Sea code of conduct soon
The omission of the South China Sea nevertheless is glaring, as it is the one issue that China and the 10-member ASEAN need to address, one way or another, as they talk about building closer relations in the future.
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The Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) conducts underway operations on April 28, 2020, in the South China Sea. Barry is forward-deployed to the United States Seventh Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (Agence France Presse/Samuel Hardgrove)
P
resident Xi Jin Ping gave an eloquent speech at the meeting with ASEAN leaders on Monday about working together toward peace, stability, prosperity and development in the region. But he left out the thorny issue of the growing tensions in the South China Sea, which has dogged relations between China and its southern neighbors.
“China was, is and will always be ASEAN’s good neighbor, good friend and good partner,” Xi said in his speech at a virtual summit with leaders of ASEAN to mark 30 years since the two began a dialogue relationship.
He gave assurances that China had no hegemonic intentions, would not take advantage of its size to bully smaller states or meddle in their internal affairs.
Public statements made after the closed-door meeting, including those in the ASEAN capital, show that it was all cordial with Xi making generous offers, including financial assistance, to back up his pledges for a closer relationship.
The omission of the South China Sea nevertheless is glaring, as it is the one issue that China and the 10-member ASEAN need to address, one way or another, as they talk about building closer relations in the future. And they need to address this sooner, rather than later, given the increasingly explosive situation in the area.
Tension has grown in the vast strategic waters because of overlapping territorial claims, heightened by the growing presence of military personnel from claimant countries trying to exercise their sovereign rights and navies from other interested parties, including the United States, claiming to protect freedom of navigation. The South China Sea is an important shipping route linking East Asia and the Middle East and Africa.
There have been reported skirmishes involving Chinese naval ships with those from other countries, but each time this happened, one or both sides backed off. There is no guarantee that one of these days, these incidents would trigger bigger and wider conflicts.
