Another workshop on South China Sea here

Another workshop on South China Sea here

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is to host next week the latest round
of regional workshop discussing cooperation in the South China
Sea, which it sees as a potential flashpoint given the multitude
of overlapping territorial claims in the area.

The five-day workshop, "Managing Potential Conflicts in the
South China Sea", will open at Pacet, a resort in the Puncak
hills just outside Jakarta, on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said Thursday.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas will address the forum,
comprising officials, scholars and experts, on Wednesday.

This will be the 8th such gathering since Indonesia hosted the
first one in Bali in 1990. Since then, the workshop has been held
annually in different places, but never in Jakarta to reflect the
informality of the meeting. Even officials taking part are
attending in their private capacities

Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bukittinggi, Balikpapan and
Batam have all hosted the event.

Some of the countries taking part have been calling on host
Indonesia to turn the meeting into a formal gathering, but given
that all decisions must be based on consensus, the proposal has
been rejected by the floor.

The workshop evolved out of the overlapping territorial claims
by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei
over the Spratly Islands, which straddle the center of the South
China Sea. Besides its strategic location, the area is also
believed to be rich in hydrocarbon reserves.

Indonesia has been acting as an "honest broker" in the
conflict, believing cooperation among countries bordering the sea
could reduce the likelihood of conflict as they negotiate their
way out of the territorial dispute by peaceful means.

Besides Indonesia and the six countries with territorial
conflicts, other participants will come from Cambodia, Laos,
Singapore and Thailand.

In addition to confidence-building measures, the workshop has
already started to develop various cooperation programs in
navigation and shipping, in scientific research cooperation, in
studying natural resources, in marine environmental protection
and in marine legal matters, according to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.

The workshop is jointly organized by the ministry's Agency for
Research and Development, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies
and the Informal Working Group on the South China Sea at the
University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The Canadian
International Development Agency is also sponsoring the event.
(emb)