Spratlys hangs over ASEAN-China summit

By Mynardo Macaraig

MANILA (AFP): Simmering tensions in the Spratly islands in the South China Sea are expected to dominate at an informal summit here of Southeast Asian leaders with their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea.

Host Philippines has made the dispute over the islands a key issue of the summit through its campaign to get claimant countries to agree to a "code of conduct" aimed at avoiding conflict in the chain of islands.

The Spratlys, which are believed to sit on vast mineral resources, has been an area of high tension in recent months with aggressive moves by some claimants to enforce their territorial sovereignty.

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all claim all or part of the archipelago, and all but Brunei have troops posted in the area.

The potential for conflict was underscored by an incident in October when Vietnamese troops fired on a Philippine reconnaissance plane flying over a Vietnamese-occupied island.

Even before that, the Philippines had already filed several protests against Malaysia and China for allegedly expanding structures they erected on certain Spratly reefs.

China in turn, protested against Philippine ships chasing Chinese fishing boats in the disputed area during which at least one vessel was sunk.

The members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which includes Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam as well as Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand, have already agreed to a declaration in 1992 to refrain from actions that could heighten conflict in the Spratlys.

But Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon admits such an accord will be meaningless without the participation of China, the regional giant which claims huge portions of the South China Sea.

China, Vietnam and Taiwan also claim the Paracel islands, another South China Sea chain.

"A code of conduct is stronger in terms of moral suasion than a declaration," Siazon explained.

"China said that regarding the 1992 ASEAN declaration, they were not really a party to it," he said, whereas a code of conduct which could contain an element that prohibits new action such as setting up a new presence in new areas.

"If China accedes to that, then the moral force would be stronger," Siazon said.

In the run-up to the summit, various moves have already been made to accommodate China.

Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja said the draft code has been revised so that it now says that "the parties concerned shall refrain from taking action that establishes presence" in unoccupied reefs, shoals, islands and other rock formations in the area.

The revision substitutes the words "taking action" to the original wording of "more presence," Baja said.

Earlier this month, China also reportedly made threats against the Philippines to pull out two Philippine Navy ships that were stranded on reefs in the South China Sea.

In an apparent gesture to China, Siazon said they would withdraw a ship from Scarborough shoal, off the western Philippine coast before Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji arrives next week.

Siazon said the code itself has not yet been finalized but added "we're very near."

He admitted the main impediment is the scope of the area to be covered by the code.

"We don't know if our diplomats will be able to nuance that and have it accepted by the (major) parties," he said.

Aside from China, two other claimants -- Vietnam and Malaysia-- are saying their ownership to parts of the Spratlys are not in dispute and they want the draft code to contain a compromise phrase to show its coverage would be limited to "disputed areas", Baja said.

Siazon says the code would be a start from which claimant countries can reach formal agreements on cooperation on fisheries and drug smuggling.