Territorial disputes in the South China Sea are likely to drag on for decades, and mounting demand for resources could intensify them, experts said at a conference on the region that was to close yesterday.
The conference addressed one of the most sensitive political topics for Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. Territorial disputes between China and several Southeast Asian countries over the Spratly and Paracel Islands and wide areas of the ocean floor have led to diplomatic protests, seizures of fishing vessels and other conflicts.
“I think we just have to accept the fact that probably some conflicts are not meant to be solved within this lifetime,” said Nazery Khalid, a senior fellow at the Maritime Institute of Malaysia.
Khalid recommended that countries in the region concentrate on areas of mutual agreement, rather than points of conflict. But participants at the conference saw few areas of agreement, apart from cooperation in meteorology and search-and-rescue efforts.
China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, and its claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Brunei. Those countries’ claims also overlap in various areas.
The head of Vietnam’s Diplomatic Academy, Duong Van Quang, said at the opening of the conference that tensions had risen in part due to “attempts to assert legal claims over territory, in parallel with unilateral actions to strengthen control over terrain.”
Quang was referring to China’s recent establishment of a commune-level government on Woody Island, the largest of the Spratlys, which Chinese forces seized from the former South Vietnam in 1974 and which Hanoi still claims.
But international law professor Liu Nanlai (劉楠來)of China’s Academy for Social Sciences made no concessions to the Vietnamese view.
“There seems to be a misconception among many observers that China has taken islands from other countries in the Spratlys,” Liu said. “In fact, before the 1950s and [19]60s, no country other than China had made a claim in the Spratlys.”
Vietnam has recently suggested that ASEAN member states negotiate as a bloc to offset Chinese claims.
Mark Valencia of the US’ Nautilus Institute said such cooperation was unlikely, in part because China maneuvers to block it.
“All China needs to do is to peel off one [ASEAN] country and they won’t be able to move ahead as a bloc,” Valencia said. “So this will drag on indefinitely, in my view.”
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel