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Philippines Asks Asean for South China Sea Summit
January 16, 2012

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Manila. The Philippines has urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to hold a summit with China and five other claimants to try to resolve long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Sunday that he asked his Asean counterparts during a meeting in Cambodia last week to back the Philippines’ call for the bloc to organize such a summit “as soon as possible.”

The Philippines and fellow Asean members Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands, which are believed to have undersea deposits of oil and gas. The islands, which are also claimed by China and Taiwan, straddle busy sea lanes and rich fishing grounds.

Many fear the disputes could be Asia’s next flash point for armed conflict.

A resolution should be based on internationally accepted rules such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Del Rosario said. “Asean is at a critical juncture of playing a momentous role for the resolution of the disputes,” he said.

China frowns on any solution involving other countries, specially non-claimants like the United States, which has declared that a peaceful resolution of the disputes is in its national interest. Beijing wants to negotiate directly with each claimant.

Senior Chinese and Asean diplomats met in Beijing over the weekend to discuss newly agreed guidelines on pursuing joint confidence-building projects in the Spratlys region but did not tackle possible solutions to the territorial conflicts.
 

Associated Press