The US and Japan are pushing to get concerns about the South China Sea included in a statement to be issued after regional defense talks in Malaysia, despite Chinese objections to any mention of the disputed waterway, officials said.
A senior US defense official said Beijing had made it clear as early as February that it did not want the South China Sea discussed at the meeting in Kuala Lumpur today between Southeast Asian defense ministers and their counterparts from across the Asia-Pacific.
“We’ve been very clear along with many other like minded countries that South China Sea language should be included, but there are members who feel differently,” the US defense official said, adding that China was the main obstacle.
Photo: AP
A draft of the concluding statement being prepared by host Malaysia makes no mention of the South China Sea, a separate source familiar with the discussions said, focusing instead on terrorism and regional security cooperation.
Today’s gathering brings together ASEAN’s 10 defense chiefs along with their counterparts from countries such as the US, Japan, China, India and Australia.
The meeting, first held in 2006, is a platform to promote regional peace and stability.
It is taking place a week after a US warship challenged territorial limits around one of Beijing’s artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) with a so-called freedom-of-navigation patrol.
That prompted China’s naval chief to warn his US counterpart in a video teleconference that a minor incident could spark war in the South China Sea if the US did not stop its “provocative acts.”
The source familiar with the talks in Kuala Lumpur said Japan had requested Malaysia “improve” the draft and make note of the South China Sea.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than US$5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines have rival claims.
ASEAN meetings routinely become a venue for countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam to argue for a stronger stance against China’s territorial ambitions.
Countries like Cambodia are pro-China, while Malaysia has sought to steer a more neutral path, even though it is a claimant and last month, its armed forces chief called China’s island-building an “unwarranted provocation.
In his opening remarks to a separate meeting of ASEAN defense chiefs yesterday, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein made no mention of the South China Sea.
At a news conference after the meeting, Hishammuddin alluded to the waterway, saying he hoped countries outside ASEAN would not increase tension.
“If the sides cannot find an amicable solution on the way forward, the patrolling and presence of vessels from China or the US raises concerns for us ASEAN countries,” he said.
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