Australia, Japan and the US yesterday urged Southeast Asia and China to ensure that a South China Sea code of conduct they have committed to draw up will be legally binding and said they strongly opposed “coercive unilateral actions.”
ASEAN and China should establish a set of rules that were “legally binding, meaningful, effective and consistent with international law,” Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement following a meeting in Manila.
Foreign ministers of ASEAN and China on Sunday adopted a negotiating framework for a code of conduct, a move they hailed as progress, but seen by critics as a tactic to buy China time to consolidate its maritime power.
Photo: EPA
Australia, Japan and the US “voiced their strong opposition to coercive unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions.”
They also urged claimants to refrain from land reclamation, construction of outposts and militarization of disputed features, in a veiled reference to China’s expansion of its defense capability on Mischief (Meiji, 美濟礁), Fiery Cross (Yongshu, 永暑島) and Subi (Jhubi, 渚碧礁) reefs in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島).
The contending states should clarify their claims peacefully in accordance with a 1982 maritime treaty and international law, the trio said.
Photo: EPA
They urged China and the Philippines to abide by last year’s international arbitration ruling, which invalidated China’s claim to almost the entire South China Sea.
Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also have competing claims there.
The code framework is an outline for what China and ASEAN call “consultations” on a formal agreement, which could start later this year.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on Sunday said that hinged on whether the situation was stable, and if there was no “major interference” from outsiders.
Several ASEAN countries want the code to be legally binding, enforceable and have a dispute resolution mechanism, but experts say China will not allow that.
Singaporean Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said it was still premature to conclude the outcome of the negotiations for the code of conduct (COC), which will be done by lawyers.
“One key issue is the question of legally binding,” he told reporters late on Sunday. “Surely when we move into the COC, it has got to have some additional or significant legal effect.”
Meanwhile, Wang yesterday canceled a scheduled one-on-one meeting in Manila with his Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Binh Minh, because China was upset over the wording of a communique released by ASEAN foreign ministers on Sunday night that expressed concern over land reclamation on disputed islands, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is not public.
Additional reporting Bloomberg
RESTRAINTS: Should China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, China would be excluded from major financial institutions, the bill says The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which states that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude Beijing from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China must be prepared
PEACE AT LAST? UN experts had warned of threats and attacks ahead of the voting, but after a turbulent period, Bangladesh has seemingly reacted to the result with calm The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday celebrated a landslide victory in the first elections held since a deadly 2024 uprising, with party leader Tarique Rahman to become prime minister. Bangladesh Election Commission figures showed that the BNP alliance had won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Islamist-led Jamaat-e-Islami alliance. The US embassy congratulated Rahman and the BNP for a “historic victory,” while India praised Rahman’s “decisive win” in a significant step after recent rocky relations with Bangladesh. China and Pakistan, which grew closer to Bangladesh since the uprising and the souring of ties with India, where ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina
Taiwanese trade negotiators told Washington that Taipei would not relocate 40 percent of its semiconductor production to the US, and that its most advanced technologies would remain in the nation, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said on Sunday. “I told the US side very clearly — that’s impossible,” Cheng, who led the negotiation team, said in an interview that aired on Sunday night on Chinese Television System. Cheng was referring to remarks last month by US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, in which he said his goal was to bring 40 percent of Taiwan’s chip supply chain to the US Taiwan’s almost
The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday released the first images from its Formosat-8A satellite, featuring high-resolution views of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), Tainan’s Anping District (安平), Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor (興達港), Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo and Barcelona airport. Formosat-8A, named the “Chi Po-lin Satellite” after the late Taiwanese documentary filmmaker Chi Po-lin (齊柏林), was launched on Nov. 29 last year. It is designed to capture images at a 1m resolution, which can be sharpened to 0.7m after processing, surpassing the capabilities of its predecessor, Formosat-5, the agency said. It is the first of TASA’s eight-satellite Formosat-8 constellation to be sent into orbit and
RSS