IS, South China Sea Again Dominate ASEAN Talks

Felipe Villamor
2017.04.29
Manila
170429_ASEAN_1000.jpg Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Myanmar State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith pose for a "family photo" at an ASEAN leaders' summit in Manila, April 29, 2017.
AFP

Southeast Asian leaders met for an annual summit Saturday, tackling security issues that weigh on the region including terrorism and China's expansionist moves that risk stoking further tension in the potentially resource-rich South China Sea.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, the host of this year's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, tried to strike a conciliatory tone and avoided directly mentioning China, but some of the regional leaders raised the contentious topic that for years has dominated the regional event.

In his opening statement, Duterte stressed that the 10-nation bloc thrived with a policy of "non-interference," an apparent swipe at questions by the West about his government's brutal anti-drug war that has left thousands dead.

The leaders also raised the problem of terrorism and nuclear proliferation in the Korean Peninsula, noting that Pyongyang's continued nuclear and missile tests have undermined the region's security.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told fellow ASEAN leaders that they should boost anti-terrorism cooperation to counter the spread of the Islamic State (IS) in the region, which is home to the world's most populous Muslim nation and a large number of migrants to the Middle East.

"We know the threat is growing and we must work together to combat it," he said in remarks at the closed door meeting, a copy of which was obtained by reporters.

"ISIS is active in Southeast Asia and creating a Wilayat [province] in the southern Philippines and I urge all member states to share intelligence, and stand united and resolute in countering terrorism," he said, using another acronym for IS.

Militant groups from the southern Philippine region of Mindanao have been blamed for a recent spike in violence. Filipino group Abu Sayyaf, a former al-Qaeda linked group which has recently pledged allegiance to IS, holds several foreign and Filipino hostages.

Flash point

Lee also called on ASEAN to close ranks and speak with one voice in matters regarding overlapping claims to the South China Sea, a topic that has long weighed down the regional bloc.

China is not a member of ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Apart from the Philippines and China, the sea region is claimed as well by Taiwan and ASEAN states Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The claims are a source of agitation and security experts have said growing militarization in the sea region led by China's aggressive expansion could be a potential flash point of armed conflict.

"Not all of us are claimants but we have common interests in maintaining peace and stability, ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight and in the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance to international law," Lee said, warning that mishaps at sea could "escalate and threaten regional peace."

He welcomed moves by ASEAN and China to craft a framework for a "code of conduct" expected to be finalized by mid-2017. Both sides agreed to draft it about 15 years ago, but questions have been raised about China's sincerity.

A chairman's statement that was prepared ahead of time, however, underwent several revisions. The document initially did not officially include references to China's island building and fortification activities.

Four countries have refused to delete a portion that mentioned China's construction activities, sources said.

Earlier in the week, Duterte said that as this year's chairman, he believed it was pointless to raise the issue. He said an arbitral ruling last year that found in favor of the Philippines and junked China's historical claims to most of the region "is not an issue in the ASEAN."

China has steadfastly ignored that ruling, and instead continued building and expanding artificial islands in areas it claims in the region, adding to fears that it was slowly militarizing the region. A Philippine Air Force plane was challenged recently by Beijing when it passed over the islands.

Pushback

An analyst said that other ASEAN countries, such as Singapore and Indonesia, may have led an internal pushback at the summit, fearing an escalation of the dispute and worrying that silence on the issue would mean China's uncontested geopolitical dominance.

"Ignoring the South China Sea issue entirely was impossible since several countries, from Vietnam to Singapore and Indonesia, believe the ASEAN should make a strong stance on the issue lest the regional body fades into total irrelevance," said Richard Heydarian of De La Salle University in Manila, who has been following the dispute.

He said some in the Philippine defense establishment, including senior diplomats, appeared to have aggressively lobbied for a stronger stance amid Duterte's soft-pedalling approach to the issue.

Duterte, he said, has not only refused to discuss the arbitration case "but also mentioning the massive reclamation activities."

"Increasingly, the Philippines is being seen as part of the emerging Chinese sphere of influence inside ASEAN, a remarkable climb down from the country's robust position just a year ago," he said. "And this is creating deep frustration among major founders such as Indonesia and Singapore, and fellow claimant Vietnam."

China remains sensitive to anything that could be seen as a veiled reference to its expansion in the South China Sea. And the latest development underscores the growing ties between President Duterte and Beijing.

Duterte, on Saturday, also raised traditional and non-traditional security issues, including illegal drugs that he said threatened the youth and terrorism that continued to plague the region.

"Piracy and armed robbery against ships disrupt the stability of regional and global commerce. Terrorism and violent extremism have brought the reality of attacks right on our shores and at our doorsteps," he said.

"Vigilance is the price that we must pay to keep our citizens safe. We can only achieve this through advancing cooperation at the bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels," he said.

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