S.China Sea, North Korea on agenda at ASEAN meeting

Cooperation, not disputes to be a focus: analysts

Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their counterparts from other Asian and Pacific nations will meet in the Philippines from Sunday to Tuesday to tackle regional issues.

Chinese experts said on Friday that the South China Sea issue would still be high on the agenda, with more focus on cooperation instead of disputes. It will also give prominence to the Korean Peninsula issue, which shows that ASEAN is adding its presence in participating in regional affairs.

Foreign ministers from 27 countries will attend the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and related meetings in the Philippines, the Philippines Star reported.

The meetings include those between foreign ministers from China, ASEAN, Japan and South Korea, as well as foreign minister meetings of the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Manila for the first time to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi will attend a series of meetings in the Philippines, foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang announced Thursday.

“The South China Sea issue will still be a focus during the meetings but more focus would be put on cooperation, rather than on areas of dispute. China has greatly improved relations with claimants in the South China Sea issue, especially with the Philippines recently,” Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the National Institute for the South China Sea, told the Global Times on Friday.

As this year’s ASEAN Chair, the Philippines will push to formalize the Framework of a Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, which a technical working group from the member states and China finished drafting in May, CNN reported on August 1.

Chen said that an official release of the COC in the South China Sea may be expected after the ASEAN meetings, which would serve as a guarantee that disputes could be solved in a peaceful way.

“However, although the Philippines may not accuse China on the South China Sea issue, it would and will never give up using the issue as a bargaining chip, not to mention that it believes the issue involves its national interests,” Zhuang Guotu, head of the Center of Southeast Asian Studies at Xiamen University, told the Global Times.

“The US, as always will try to highlight the South China Sea issue since it gives the US an excuse to add to its presence in the waters,” Zhuang said.

Tillerson earlier accused China of using its economic clout to evade issues such as the dispute over the South China Sea, the Philippine Star reported.

ASEAN ministers will also hold discussions on the Korean Peninsula issue.

Philippine Acting Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar said earlier that ASEAN is “very much concerned” about the developments in North Korea, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

“It is normal for ASEAN to discuss the Korean Peninsula issue as ASEAN always wants to play a leading role in dealing with affairs in the Asia-Pacific region. It could add to its influence by getting involved with the issue,” Zhuang said.

North Korea is attending the ARF on Monday. Bolivar said that the ARF is the only venue outside of the UN in which North Korea participates in roundtable discussions on security matters with South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, the US, the European Union and ASEAN.

“It is the only venue thus far that we have to promote candid and freeflow dialogue and to actually express our concerns to the North Korean side in a face-to-face manner,” Bolivar said.