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Manila says international courts key to Spratlys

MANILA - The Philippines said on Saturday international arbitration could provide a ``final solution'' to conflicting claims over isles in the South China Sea, including the potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands. Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said a proposed regional code of conduct on the South China Sea to be discussed at an informal summit of Southeast Asian nations in Manila next week was aimed at preventing war over the islands.

``The final solution...is you have to negotiate. You want to submit to the International Court of Justice, arbitration, or submit it to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Seas,'' Siazon said in a televised interview.
The Spratlys are a cluster of isles, reefs and rocky outcrops claimed wholly or in part by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Siazon said differences among Malaysia, Vietnam and China on the area to be covered by the proposed code were among issues blocking its approval. The code would call for the peaceful settlement of disputes and bar claimants now occupying parts of the contested area from expanding their presence or building new structures, he said.

``This (area to be covered by the code) is what they are now wrestling with. This is now the subject of dispute among Malaysia, Vietnam and China,'' Sizaon said. Philippine foreign ministry officials said a key point being debated by the three countries was whether the code should be limited to the Spratlys or also cover other areas in the South China Sea, such as the Paracels Islands.

``We are pursuing the code of conduct...so that there will be no fighting. If war erupts, we will all come to nothing,'' Siazon said. The leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are to discuss security issues and economic and financial cooperation at the informal summit and are to meet dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea.

Reuters - November 20, 1999.


New security forum up at ASEAN summit - Manila

MANILA - A proposal for a new security forum to discuss and contain potential armed conflicts in Asia will be high on the agenda of 13 Asian leaders meeting at an informal summit in Manila this month.
The November 28 summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and dialogue partners Japan, China and South Korea will also discuss measures to spur a new Asian economic resurgence after the 1997-98 financial crisis, Philippine foreign ministry officials said.

The Philippines is pushing for the creation of an East Asia cooperation forum where political and security issues could be discussed. Unlike Africa, which has its Organisation of African Union, and the Islamic world which has its Organisation of Islamic Conference, Asia as a whole has no forum where it could discuss thorny political issues that could erupt into an armed confrontation, Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said.

``By the time a political or security problem goes to the U.N. Security Council, there would just be too much bloodshed already on the ground and it may be too late,'' Siazon told a news conference. He said the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the territorial dispute in the South China Sea involving rival claimants China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei were among politically volatile issues confronting the region.

CODE OF CONDUCT

Siazon said the idea of an East Asian forum would be explored at the Manila meeting but that it could take years before such a grouping materialised. He said the 10 ASEAN countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia -- plus Japan, China and South Korea could comprise the forum's initial members.

Separately from the 13-nation summit, ASEAN leaders will meet to discuss a proposed regional code of conduct to govern the action of nations with rival claims to potentially oil-rich isles in the area.
ASEAN wants China, the biggest claimant, to accede to the code.

``A code of conduct would contain an element that prohibits new presence in areas where you are not there. If China agrees to that, then the moral force would be felt,'' Siazon said. The Philippines has accused China of occupying a reef which Manila claims in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
China says all of the South China Sea has been under Chinese sovereignty for centuries. On economic issues, Siazon said the summit would discuss measures ``for the achievement of (Asia's) economic and financial resurgence.''

``There will be some decisions, some deliverables, in the economic and financial fields,'' he said but gave no details.

Reuters - November 18, 1999.