Island disputes dominate summit
Japan seeks peaceful solution to Asian territorial issues
MANILA — The island disputes roiling much of Asia must be settled peacefully according to international law, Japan said Friday at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations forum attended by Tokyo’s newly angered rival China and other countries with their own sea clashes brewing.
For its part, Beijing offered $474 million for a maritime co-operation fund with ASEAN, which has several members at odds with China over islands in the South China Sea. What the money would be used for was not immediately clear, but the offer may have been an effort to reduce tensions.
Senior diplomats and private maritime experts from the 10-nation association and eight other countries — including China, Japan, South Korea and the United States — were gathered in Manila for a maritime forum.
In his keynote address, Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Koji Tsuruoka said claimants in Asia’s territorial disputes must reject the idea that “might is right.”
“It is indispensable for any party concerned to resolve disputes over territories in a peaceful manner based on international law,” Tsuru-
Japan’s dispute with China over tiny islands escalated after Tokyo bought islands from
Japanese owners.
oka said, adding that countries should clarify their claims based on rules provided by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Japan’s long-simmering dispute with China over some tiny East China Sea islands heated up last month after Tokyo purchased the islands from their private Japanese owners.
Japan currently controls the islands, but Beijing insists that they belong to China and that the purchase violated earlier tacit agreements to set the dispute aside.
Taiwan also claims the islands. Japan has a separate territorial row with South Korea.
ASEAN members Vietnam and the Philippines, meanwhile, have clashed with China over islands in the South China Sea. ASEAN members Brunei and Malaysia also have been embroiled in South China Sea rifts.
Tsuruoka said non-ASEAN countries should maintain their commitment to uphold ASEAN’s centrality and lead role in finding ways to peacefully settle disputes and strengthen maritime order in the region.
It was an apparent reference to China’s preference for bilateral discussion on disputes in the South China Sea instead of dealing with ASEAN as a group.
China and ASEAN, meanwhile, were discussing possible uses for China’s proposed maritime fund, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh said. ASEAN and China co-operate in maritime issues including navigation safety, biodiversity, and search and rescue.
On Wednesday, the Philippines proposed that southeast Asian countries create a regional informationsharing system to better watch waters troubled by territorial disputes, piracy, smuggling and rapid degradation of marine resources.