Territorial workshop fails to reach consensus on CBM<\/p>\n
By Prapti Widinugraheni<\/p>\n
BUKITTINGGI, West Sumatra (JP): Tough talks over the
\nterritorial claims and disputes in the South China Sea proceeded
\nhere yesterday despite the fact that workshop participants failed
\nto reach a consensus on the group's confidence building measures
\n(CBM).<\/p>\n
\"Some participants supported the measures, some declined to
\ngive their opinions while others were doubtful whether they could
\nconvey the CBM to their respective governments or whether they
\ncould be committed to it,\" said Hasjim Djalal, Indonesia's
\nAmbassador-at-Large for Law of the Sea and resource person at the
\nfifth workshop on managing potential conflicts in the South China
\nSea yesterday.<\/p>\n
Despite the outcomes, he acknowledged that \"doubtful\"
\nparticipants had all the right to express their opinions. He
\ndeclined to name the conflicting countries in the issue.<\/p>\n
\"In the end, we agreed that the CBM, that we established
\nseveral years ago, is good for our region. But we have yet to
\nreach a consensus on all of the points in it,\" Hasjim said.<\/p>\n
Head of the Taiwanese delegation Kuen Chen-fu had earlier
\nindicated that disagreements had developed as to whether or not
\nthe specific issue of the Spratlys and Paracels should be
\nincorporated and resolved in the workshop.<\/p>\n
Taiwan, he said, had proposed that the issue be expanded to a
\nmore general level of \"territorial claims and disputes,\" instead
\nof specifically discussing the Spratlys and Paracels and allowing
\nother disputes in the region to be included as well.<\/p>\n
Taiwan's proposal was later adopted when the title of the
\ntopic was changed from an issue of the Spratlys and Paracels into
\n\"territorial claims and disputes\".<\/p>\n
The conference, which has been hosted annually by Indonesia
\nsince 1990, is currently establishing projects of cooperation
\naround the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n
Such projects are considered effective ways to prevent further
\nconflicts from erupting between the six countries who claim all
\nor part of the archipelagos.<\/p>\n
Participants from the claimant parties are the Philippines,
\nBrunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, China and Taiwan and also included are
\nLaos, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and resource
\npersons from Canada.<\/p>\n
Despite failures to reach any sort of consensus, Hasjim said
\nthat compared to the previous workshop in Surabaya last year,
\nwhich identified points in the CBM, participants were now able to
\ngo into more detailed discussion.<\/p>\n
Government<\/p>\n
Earlier yesterday, a proposal to encourage more government
\ninvolvement from claimant parties and also non-South China Sea
\nentities in joint projects in the South China Sea region was
\nreceived with a minimal enthusiasm by several participants at the
\nSouth China Sea conference.<\/p>\n
At least two participants, China and Taiwan, considered it too
\nearly to involve \"outside\" parties and government officials.<\/p>\n
\"We are taking advantage of being informal and I don't think
\nit is time to formalize this. Once it is formalized, there will
\nbe government officials sitting here who are responsible for
\ntheir own people, their own parliaments and congresses, and it
\nwill get more complicated,\" said Taiwan's Kuen Chen- fu during a
\nbreak.<\/p>\n
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas earlier suggested
\ninvolving more formal entities and non-South China Sea countries
\nin the joint South China Sea region projects.<\/p>\n
Xu Guangjian, head of the Chinese delegation, said in a
\nseparate interview that at present it was \"useless and
\nunnecessary\" for countries outside the South China Sea region to
\nbe involved in the talks. He stated: \"We are the ones living
\naround the area so we can discuss the issue among ourselves.\"<\/p>\n
He said, however, that they could still be allowed to
\nparticipate through technical and financial assistance.<\/p>\n
Fu said that government involvement may become unavoidable in
\nthe future as official agreements and regulations will have to be
\nratified, but that \"for the time being, it is unnecessary\".<\/p>\n
Presently there are no projects which are concrete enough to
\ninvolve any \"outside\" countries, he added.<\/p>\n
Xu said that agreement on the participation of any non-South
\nChina Sea country should only be made under the consensus of all
\nparticipants.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/territorial-workshop-fails-to-reach-consensus-on-cbm-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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