Southeast Asian leaders demand the peaceful resolution of South China Sea disputes devoid of coercio

#borderdispute #southchinasea #westphilippinesea

Southeast Asian leaders demand the peaceful resolution of South China Sea disputes devoid of coercion or intimidation.

Nations surround China's land and sea borders, and the international community wishes China to cease.

Given the collision between Chinese and Philippine vessels the day before, the prime minister of Australia expressed concern on Wednesday regarding "unsafe and destabilizing behavior" in the South China Sea.

The remarks were made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as his nation concluded a three-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which neglected to explicitly denounce China for a sequence of occurrences in the contested waters.

A day after four Filipino crew members were injured when Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided near a contested shoal in the South China Sea, ASEAN leaders instead exhorted that disagreements be resolved through dialogue as opposed to threats.

Philippine and Chinese officials exchanged accusations regarding the incident. The contested region witnessed a number of tense engagements between coast guard vessels from the Philippines and China during the previous year.

Albanese, who co-chaired the summit with Sonexay Siphandone, the prime minister of Laos, expressed concern for Australia regarding Tuesday's conflict. "It is hazardous and introduces the possibility of miscalculation, which could escalate the situation," he stated.

Australia supported the Philippines' effort to have the ASEAN declaration adopted at the conclusion of the summit, citing a 2016 The Hague, Netherlands arbitration judgment that invalidated Beijing's expansive territorial assertions in the South China Sea, which are in opposition to the claims put forth by multiple ASEAN member states. The ruling was not accepted by China.

The Melbourne Declaration, which was published late on Wednesday, made no reference to the 2016 decision. The summit was convened in the city of Australia in remembrance of the country's initial ASEAN external partnership fifty years ago.

In accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the declaration advocated for the peaceful resolution of conflicts via diplomatic and legal channels "without resorting to the threat or use of force."

It stated, "We urge all nations to refrain from unilateral actions that threaten the stability, security, and peace of the region." Albanese stated that compromises were necessary in order to find words on which ASEAN summit leaders could all concur.

Albanese stated, "It is widely acknowledged that we must ensure that actions taken in the South China Sea mitigate tensions and do not contribute to them."

Damien Kingsbury, an expert on Southeast Asia at Deakin University, opined that the omission of China explicitly in the declaration was a gesture to Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, which are close to Beijing, as well as to Malaysia's more conciliatory stance towards the Chinese.

Kingsbury described it as "a veiled criticism of China, which is about as strong as consensus would permit." In September of last year, at an ASEAN summit in Indonesia, leaders reached a consensus to expedite the negotiation process with China in order to achieve a code of conduct for the South China Sea by the end of three years. The purpose of such a code would be to deter provocative and dangerous conduct.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were in attendance at that summit.

Lee Hsien Loong, the longest-serving ASEAN leader since Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, stated on Tuesday that the completion of that code would require a considerable amount of time due to the presence of challenging issues that have yet to be resolved.

The ASEAN state of Myanmar, where a military junta usurped power in 2021, has been beset by ongoing violence and a humanitarian crisis. In a joint statement, the leaders "strongly condemn the continued acts of violence."

Myanmar was excluded formally from the Melbourne conference. However, neither the Australian government nor the Myanmar Embassy in Australia would comment on allegations that Australia-based diplomat Thet Tun continued to represent Myanmar at the summit.

On Monday, approximately 200 demonstrators had gathered outside the summit to voice their opposition to the presence of any Myanmar representative.

As an official observer, East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmo also participated in the summit subsequent to the ASEAN's preliminary agreement to admit the newest nation in Asia.