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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged countries around the South China Sea to settle their territorial disputes (AFP, Hoang Dinh Nam)
Thursday, 12 July 2012
Bridget Di Certo and Cheang Sokha
Phnom Penh Post
The
world is watching ASEAN foreign ministers as they scramble to reach a
consensus on a regional Code of Conduct for the South China Sea,
officials at the summit in Phnom Penh acknowledged yesterday.
Indonesia’s
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that consensus among ASEAN
members was a “work in progress”. “We are getting there,” he said.
The
major hold-up is “agreement on language,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn said at a press conference yesterday
evening.
“The foreign ministers are working on their joint communiqué, but are working on agreement on the language.”
ASEAN
Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said ASEAN discussions on the CoC were
already having a “calming affect” on the international community.
“The
fact that they are all committed to work on the code of conduct
seriously in good faith . . . we have already achieved a milestone,”
Pitsuwan said. “Earlier on, there was a reluctance on some parties to
engage or not to engage and to engage … informally or engage
periodically.”
Earlier in the week, ASEAN officials announced
that officials had already drafted key elements of the CoC and these
elements would then be taken to informal discussion with China.
However,
China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Fu Ying, told reporters that there had
been a “suggestion” from ASEAN ministers to launch discussions with
China on the Code.
“The Chinese minister would like to give a
serious consideration of the proposals for exploring the possibilities
of a discussion of CoC,” Ying said, stressing that engagement would
hinge on all members of ASEAN obeying and implementing the current
Declaration of Conduct.
To contact the reporters on this story: Bridget Di Certo at bridget.dicerto@phnompenhpost.com
Cheang Sokha at cheang.sokha@phnompenhpost.com
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