Leaders from Southeast Asia and neighboring countries met in Singapore on Wednesday and cited progress on keeping peace in the contentious South China Sea
SINGAPORE – Leaders from Southeast Asia and neighboring countries met in Singapore on Wednesday and cited progress on keeping peace in the contentious South China Sea as evidence that the region is managing to handle such issues on its own.
Both the Singapore meeting and a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum later in the week have drawn China’s leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin and heads of other regional powers, but not U. S. President Donald Trump, who sent Vice President Mike Pence in his stead.
The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was focusing on issues of security and trade at its summit, with managing conflict in the South China Sea a perennial issue. China is pitted against its smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters that are crucial for global commerce and are rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the region has set a good example of managing those territorial disputes and keeping the peace as it works toward setting a “code of conduct” to govern navigation and other activities.
“We have found the way to properly manage and defuse differences, for example on the issue of the South China Sea, in the past years,” Li said, adding that the situation is moving toward “greater stability” with progress toward a single draft text on a code of conduct in the sea. He reiterated Beijing’s hope to have a final agreement within three years.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said such a code is needed “at all cost” to govern behavior in the South China Sea to avoid miscalculations and trouble, suggesting that any risks are from trouble with outsiders.
The region already has a nonbinding “Declaration of Conduct” but is working toward a more robust agreement.
