South China Sea: Southeast Asian Claimants Unlikely To Stand Down From Pursuit of UNCLOS

30 July 2011
Comment by LyKC

Friction in the South China Sea has increased in the recent months between China and Southeast Asian claimants, especially Vietnam and the Philippines, which has threatened the regional stability. The distpute between China and some members of ASEAN over the oil and gas-rich archiprlagos continued to dominate the recent ASEAN Regional Forum held in Bali, Indonesia.

The top diplomats of key ASEAN countries with territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea, including the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia, have cautiously praised for the eight-point guidelines formalized with China during this year's ASEAN Regional Forum. The agreement details steps toward implementing the parties' 2002 Declaration of Conduct in the South China Sea and calls for South China Sea claimant countries to increase dialogue and consultations as they attempt to resolve their overlapping territorial disputes and reduce tensions in the area.

While Indonesia -- which claims no territory in the South China Sea but, as this year's ASEAN chair, had a significant stake in securing progress on the issue at the ASEAN’s annual security meeting-- trumpeted the eight-point guidelines as a watershed achievement, the claimant states took a more circumspect view of the agreement by casting it as a positive first step, with at least the Philippines expressing doubt about the value of bilateral talks with China. The Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario appeared dissapointed that ASEAN did not a stronger stand against China.

While regional officials have praised the eight-point guideline for managing tensions in the South China Sea that ASEAN and China agreed to on 20 July, the cautious stances taken by leading Southeast Asian claimant states suggest they are unlikely to stand down from their separate pursuits of a legally binding resolution under international law to their South China Sea claims. The Philippines warned that it would likely act alone and take their case to a tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS, even if China is unwilling to participate.