Singapore: SCS tension escalation impacting ASEAN trade, economy

‘The most important thing for the whole of ASEAN is to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea because not only is it our immediate backyard, but it is also one of the world’s busiest waterways’

Further escalation of tension in the South China Sea (SCS), an important shipping passage for global trade and investments, would halt the economic growth of Southeast Asian nations, Singapore warned Tuesday.

Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who is currently on a twoday official visit to Manila, emphasized this as tensions between the Philippines and China continued to mount.

“The most important thing for the whole of ASEAN is to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea because not only is it our immediate backyard, but it is also one of the world’s busiest waterways,” Balakrishnan told reporters in a joint presser with his Philippine counterpart, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo.

The South China Sea, which overlaps the West Philippine Sea, is a shipping passage for $5.3 trillion worth of trade annually.

Balakrishnan explained that although Singapore, one of the founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is not a claimant state in the South China Sea, it is monitoring developments in the area.

“I explained just now, although Singapore has no claims in the South China Sea, the moment you have an escalation of tension or collision, or military action in the South China Sea, it will immediately impact and impede trade. It will increase insurance premiums, it will certainly have an inflationary impact on our economies…,” he said.

Singapore’s top diplomat made these remarks in response to a question about the common observation regarding the regional bloc’s deafening silence on China’s aggressive actions and expansionist policies in the South China Sea.

Four of the 10 members of the ASEAN are primary claimants of the resource-rich South China Sea, namely, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

Balakrishnan stressed that Singapore as a non-claimant state in the South China Sea does “take sides in the competing territorial and Maritime claims.”

He also stressed that their island country believes in the rule of law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which he described as “sets out a pretty comprehensive statement of how maritime entitlement should be established and maintained.”

Consistent position

For his part, Manalo said he had an extensive discussion on the SCS with Balakrishnan, where he said he briefed the Foreign Minister on the Philippines’ position on it, which has been consistent, clear, and firmly anchored on the UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea.

“I shared that the Philippines remains committed to peaceful dialogue and diplomacy. We are also committed to making our bilateral mechanisms with other claimant states work, and we are steadfast in our adherence to the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and are committed to an effective and substantive Code of Conduct based on the 1982 UNCLOS,” he said.

“We agreed that peace in the South China Sea is beneficial to both the Philippines and Singapore, as well as to our entire region,” he added.

China claims the vast South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea which is within the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected Beijing’s nine-dash — now ten-dash line claims — in the South China Sea and favored Manila’s sovereign rights in the area.

Despite this, the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea remains on paper as China has continued to reject the ruling and assert its claim in the area.