The US is willing to help craft a legally binding “code of conduct” to end a territorial dispute between ASEAN members and China that threatens regional stability, a US envoy said yesterday.
US Ambassador to Manila Harry Thomas said Washington had a clear interest in ensuring that tensions surrounding overlapping claims to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea were settled peacefully through dialogue.
“We don’t want to see conflict, we don’t wish to see a war and we do not take sides to this issue,” Thomas told foreign correspondents.
He said the 10-nation ASEAN should sit down with China and negotiate an enforceable code of conduct to ensure that the vital sea lane remains free from incidents that could disrupt trade.
“I think we have to wait for ASEAN and China to agree to sit down and when ASEAN develops its goals and objectives, and if they ask for our assistance in specific items, we would be happy to assist,” Thomas said.
Asked whether such a code should be legally binding, he answered: “Of course.”
The US believes that adopting the code of conduct would “ensure regional stability, freedom of navigation and international commerce,” he said.
However, Thomas was quick to say that Washington did not wish to engage in a conflict with China, an economic and military powerhouse that has increasingly been flexing its muscles in the region.
“We seek no conflict with no nation. We think there should be peace. We think, however, that the ASEAN code of conduct is an achievable goal with China,” he said.
ASEAN has been pushing China to agree to a binding “regional code of conduct” that will govern actions in the South China Sea.
This would replace a non-binding “declaration” by the claimants not to take destabilizing actions in the area.
Beijing has been reluctant to deal with ASEAN collectively on the issue and instead wants the matter discussed bilaterally.
China in July showcased its naval might in the South China Sea after US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told regional leaders that resolution of the dispute was “pivotal” to regional stability.
The Spratlys are a chain of atolls and reefs in the South China Sea believed to lie above large deposits of minerals, including natural gas and oil.
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