Southeast Asian and Australian leaders yesterday warned against actions that “endanger peace” in the South China Sea, following fresh confrontations between Beijing and the Philippines in contested waters.
Simmering tensions in the trade corridor threatened to boil over this week when Chinese boats near the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), were accused of hounding Philippines vessels.
Beijing yesterday accused the US of using the Philippines as a “pawn to stir up trouble in the South China Sea” as hostilities between the Asian nations escalate over their territorial dispute.
Photo: AFP
China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, ignoring legal precedents and competing claims from Taiwan and a host of Southeast Asian nations.
The festering dispute poses one of the region’s most vexing security challenges, looming large during a three-day summit between Australia and the 10-nation ASEAN bloc.
“We encourage all countries to avoid any unilateral actions that endanger peace, security and stability in the region,” a joint declaration prepared by ASEAN members and Australia said.
“We recognize the benefits of having the South China Sea as a sea of peace, stability and prosperity,” it said.
When the summit began on Monday morning, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo delivered a simple request to Beijing: “Stop harassing us.”
The following day, China Coast Guard boats were accused of harassing a flotilla of Philippine ships on a resupply mission.
The Chinese vessels were involved in two separate collisions and blasted one of the resupply boats with a water cannon, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
Bound to act by consensus, the ASEAN forum has long struggled to make inroads on the overlapping claims staked throughout the South China Sea, but the fraught atmosphere hanging over the region has some nations now pushing for the bloc to take a firmer stance.
Australia has proven increasingly willing to speak out against China.
“I am very concerned and Australia is concerned about any unsafe and destabilizing behavior in the South China Sea,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on the sidelines of the summit. “We need to make sure that activity in the South China Sea alleviates any tensions and doesn’t add to it.”
The surging conflict in junta-ruled Myanmar also continued to frustrate ASEAN leaders, whose efforts to resolve the crisis remain largely fruitless.
Junta leaders have essentially ignored the bloc’s five-point peace plan released in 2021.
“We strongly condemn the continued acts of violence and call for immediate cessation,” the joint declaration said.
“We call for effective humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogue,” it added.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
RSS