Sea row needs compromise, says US commander
he US military s commander in the Pacific yesterday called for compromise in sia s worsening maritime territorial rows, ca tioning against a winner- ta e- all strategy that some nations fear hina is p rs ing.
US Pacific Fleet commander dmiral Sam el oc lear said the region had become the world s most militari amid rapid economic growth, deepening the importance of dialog e to ens re the disp tes did not lead to armed conflict.
hat s going to nderlie that most importantly is a commitment to the r le of law, a commitment to international for ms to sol e problems and to sol e disp tes, oc lear said at the orld conomic For m F on ast sia.
“You can’t have a winner-takesall attitude. It will require compromise. It will require dialogue,” he added.
Locklear was speaking about the various territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea that have endured for decades, but worsened in recent years amid perceived rising Chinese assertiveness.
China claims most of the South China Sea, even waters close to the shores of its neighbors and more than 1,000 kilometers from the nearest major Chinese landmass.
Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as Taiwan, claim parts of the sea, which is home to some of the world’s most important shipping lanes and believed to contain huge deposits of oil and gas.
The disputes have for decades been regarded as a potential trigger for military conflict, and those concerns have risen amid the rising tensions between China and some of its neighbors, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam.
China sent a deep-water oil drilling rig into contested waters in the sea this month, sparking violent protests in Vietnam in which at least four Chinese were reported killed.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said on Wednesday that China’s decision to deploy the oil rig had “seriously threatened peace.”
Locklear also defended US efforts to build up security alliances in Asia, including with countries having territorial disputes with China, following criticism by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Locklear said these alliances, some going back to the end of World War II, had “generally underwritten security” in the region.
“Things that we’ve done here has helped our economy, has helped the global economy and I would say it has helped China as it had helped everybody in this region as well,” he said.
Xi voiced concern on Wednesday at a Chinese-run security forum in Shanghai over the United States deepening its military alliances in Asia, indicating China felt it was being targeted.
“To beef up an entrenched or military alliance targeted at a third party is not conducive to maintaining
common security,” Xi said.
Delayed negotiations
Meanwhile, the Philippines said delaying the negotiation for a legally binding Code of Conduct (COC) allows unilateral actions in the disputed South China Sea, and destroys the status quo.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Laura del Rosario noted that negotiations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have not moved forward despite recent developments in the South China Sea.
The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), she said, calls on claimants to behave, not take unilateral action that will destroy the status quo and pursue peaceful settlement of disputes.
“Unfortunately we haven’t really started negotiation on the Code of Conduct,” Del Rosario said during the discussion on “Asia Security Outlook” at the WEF. “We are wondering why there’s a delay.”
“Are we changing the environment so that when we are ready to discuss the COC the environment has changed? We’re not acting fast enough… from what point are we going to discuss it?” she asked.
She said there had been “a lot of buildup, construction going on, until we realize people are already doing some kind of fencing.”
Del Rosario said negotiations on the COC should start, given the growing military presence of countries in the South China Sea.
“Once the parameters have changed or the baselines will have changed, that will influence the COC,” she said.
Locklear agreed that ASEAN has an important role in being able to manage neighbors’ friction or disputes in the economic, social or military level.
He said the COC “should have been here several years ago.”
Restraint
Espen Barth Eide, managing director and member of the managing board of the WEF, called for restraint among nations involved in conflict.
He said the issue of dominance and the growing tensions in the region could undermine the economic growth and other good things going on in the region.
“Our position is to call for restraint from everyone to avoid disputes to turn into serious conflict and that means to try to avoid any kind of stimulation of nationalist sentiment on any side,” Eide told The STAR.
“We are not taking a position on the subject itself as you heard. We do appeal for calm and for responsibility from everyone not to allow this to escalate into (something) uncontrollable,” he said.
Edie, former foreign and defense minister of Norway, was referring to the response against Chinese factories in Vietnam and Japanese businesses in China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea and the Senkaku Islands.
With regard to the South China Sea, he said an agreement on the COC could help avoid escalation of conflict.
He cited Norway’s maritime dispute with Russia, which despite opposing views was reined in before the situation worsened.