Asean-China talks on South China Sea to start soon

Hanoi

NEGOTIATIONS between Asean countries and China over a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea will resume no later than November, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said during a virtual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The talks come as territorial tensions in the sea are on the rise, with countries such as Vietnam pushing back against China's maritime claims.

The meetings will be face to face, Mr Locsin said. The negotiations had been postponed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at the start of the virtual meeting: "The regional geo-political and geo-economic landscape, including the South China Sea, are witnessing growing volatilities that are detrimental to peace and stability."

Vietnam, this year's chair of Asean, is hosting the sessions.

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South-east Asian foreign ministers, kicking off a series of regional summits on Wednesday, are also expected to seek collaboration to fight global threats, and to try to de-escalate a tit-for-tat rivalry as the world's two biggest economies vie for influence.

Russia, Japan, Australia, South Korea and India are among those remotely joining the event hosted by Vietnam, which will include a 27-nation security forum, as concern grows about rhetoric and accidental conflict, and about other countries being caught up in the fray.

The role of international law and multilateral institutions are being "greatly challenged", said Pham Binh Minh, Vietnam's foreign minister, in his opening remarks.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi cautioned the United States and China against entangling South-east Asian nations in their geopolitical battle. "We don't want to get trapped by this rivalry," he said ahead of the Asean Regional Forum, scheduled for Saturday.

Mr Retno said Asean did not want to take sides, and described the increased militarisation in the South China Sea as "worrying".

The US has spoken out strongly against China over trade, technology and its maritime conduct, and President Donald Trump has trumpeted his tough approach to China in the run-up to the US presidential election.

Washington has accused Beijing of bullying its neighbours by sending ships close to their offshore energy operations, and of opportunism in holding military exercises and testing new defence hardware in disputed locations while its rival claimants battle coronavirus outbreaks.

China said its actions were lawful.

Since mid-August, the US has repeatedly riled China by sending warships to the South China Sea and the sensitive Taiwan Strait, and flown a reconnaissance plane over Chinese live-fire drills.

It blacklisted 24 Chinese entities over their involvement in building and militarising artificial islands.

Collin Koh, a security specialist at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said: "There's no desire to take sides - or to be seen to be doing so."

Asean would instead discuss with China the advancement of a long-delayed code of maritime conduct, and the development and access to a Covid-19 vaccine, he said.

The group's talks with the US would urge military restraint and greater investments from corporate America, he said. Both would seek to "de-focus on the intensifying rivalry". BLOOMBERG, REUTERS