Quratul-Ain Bandial
SINGAPORE
ASEAN integration and maritime disputes in the South China Sea will continue to dominate the agenda for the October ASEAN summit in Brunei, said Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
"We had a good meeting in Brunei in April this year. We had a clear statement on what we wanted to do in terms of ASEAN cooperation, also in terms of where we stood on the South China Sea issues. And I expect that we will be reviewing the same issues again because these continue to be the main agenda for ASEAN, and I look forward to making more progress," he told participants of an ASEAN journalists programme in Singapore on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Lee said Brunei had sought Singapore's advice before staging the ASEAN leaders' summit in April.
"We have given Brunei some advice from our experience hosting it back in 2007. Some tips on how best to do this, but I think Brunei has carried most of the burden," he said, quipping that the country is looking forward to the October summit because "that means it will have completed its duties".
However, Lee was not optimistic that any binding agreements on the disputed South China Sea would be forged at the October meeting.
China and four ASEAN members — Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia — all have competing claims in the resource-rich sea, the pathway for some of the busiest shipping routes in the world.
"We in ASEAN have been pushing for full implementation of the Declaration on Conduct, at the same time, the negotiation of a Code of Conduct between the parties. And I think we have agreed with China to start on this process, but I think realistically it will be quite a long process."
A Code of Conduct is a binding agreement that would govern how claimant countries behave in the disputed waters, so unnecessary conflict can be avoided.
"ASEAN makes progress incrementally and not in dramatic leaps but gradually we move forward and from time to time," said Lee.
"We have difficulties and you may encounter setbacks and you have to try and recover," he said, referring to an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh last year when the bloc failed to issue a joint communique for the first time in its 45-year history due to in-fighting over the South China Sea issue.
"What happened in Phnom Penh was a setback. After that, the fact that we were able to come out with some principles on our approach to the South China Sea, I think it was helpful and provided some basis to make sure that our discussions in Brunei could make further progress."
When asked how sovereignty over the South China Sea could be resolved the prime minister said there was no way the issue could be overcome unless countries were willing to cede claims altogether.
"These are territorial disputes. I say it is mine, you say it is yours. Whose is it? So either I say sorry, I made a mistake, it is yours; or you must say sorry, you made a mistake, it is mine. And no government can say that.
"I do not think that the overlapping claims can be cleared up... But what you can do is to manage the situation, avoid some escalation at sea, on the land or sea itself, and where possible, do joint development of the resources which are there, which I think is Brunei's approach from what I can see."
China's sweeping claim to over 80 per cent of the South China Sea has prompted renewed US engagement with Asia-Pacific, with the Pentagon bolstering its military presence in the region to ensure security and freedom of navigation for its commercial vessels.
The so-called "pivot to Asia" has left some diplomats concerned over the power struggle between Beijing and Washington being played out on the ASEAN stage.
Lee made a strong statement in support of a continued US presence in Asia-Pacific, saying its security role in the region was "indispensable".
"It is not just the forces which visit Singapore, the LCS (littoral combat ship) or the aircraft but their overall security presence in the region which makes a big difference to the whole of the Asia-Pacific.
"And I think we will continue and that is not a role which China can take over from the United States nor can Japan," Lee said, adding, "As long as China and America are friends, it is easier, if not it is more difficult but we want to be friends with both."
Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times
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