Defense chiefs push for South China Sea rules

Dina Indrasafitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Fri, 05/20/2011

ASEAN defense officials have signed a declaration pushing for rules to manage territorial disputes in the South China Sea in what may be an emerging common stance on China.

The 10 ministers signed a joint declaration on Thursday that reaffirmed “ASEAN member states’ commitment to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and to work towards the adoption of a regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) that would further promote peace and stability in the region.”

The South China Sea has been a subject of disputes between China and four ASEAN members .

The DOC, which ASEAN and China established in 2002, has yet to be translated into concrete rules, while a working group of ASEAN and China’s officials has been discussing implementation of the COC since 2002.

Under Indonesia’s chairmanship, ASEAN has taken a more cohesive stance against China, making an unprecedented demand for to implement the COC, as some member nations reportedly were impatient with a lack progress in implementing the DOC.

“This is the first time the South China Sea issue has been raised by the defense ministries. It was previously considered a sensitive issue and was avoided,” Col. Jan Pieter Ate, a special assistant to the Indonesian Defense Minister, said after the meeting.

The declaration was signed by the defense ministers of Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Singapore’s education minister and second defense minister and Brunei’s energy minister at the end of the 5th ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM) here in Jakarta.

Jan Pieter said that the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia over a disputed border was also discussed by the officials “openly and in a very friendly way…previously one would have avoided [it] and considered it as an intervention.”

Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that the delegates also adopted a new three year work program for the 2011-2013 period. The plan “will set a clear program and clear priorities for the ADMM’s activities… [As] such, we will ensure efficiency and avoid duplication for our work in the future,” Purnomo said in a speech after the close of the one-day meeting.

The work program supports implementation of the ASEAN Convention on Counter-Terrorism and exchanging experiences on peacekeeping operations.

According to the delegate’s joint declaration, the nations would adopt the Concept Paper on the Establishment of ASEAN Peacekeeping Centers Network and the Concept Paper on Establishing ASEAN Defense Industry Collaboration.

Ade Padmo Sarwono, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry’s director for ASEAN political and security cooperation affairs, said that the adoption of the concept paper on the defense industry collaboration indicated something “concrete” and thus was more than a “mere declarations”.