Spratlys meeting signs deals

JAKARTA (JP): Delegates to a regional workshop to discuss cooperation in the South China Sea have agreed on two joint projects, one for monitoring tide levels and another on database, information exchange and networking.

The two projects were approved by 50 delegates from 11 countries taking part in the five-day workshop on Managing Potential Conflicts in the South China Sea. The meeting opened on Tuesday in Balikpapan, the capital of East Kalimantan.

The annual workshop is the sixth that Indonesia has hosted in an attempt to defuse potential conflicts between littoral states which have overlapping territorial claims in the Spratlys, a group of tiny islands strategically located in the South China Sea.

The area is also thought to be rich in oil and mineral deposits.

Experts and diplomats from the six claimants -- Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan -- along with Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia are taking part in the Balikpapan workshop.

The workshop is being organized by the Indonesian foreign ministry's research and development agency and sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency.

During the fifth workshop in Bukittinggi last year, delegates agreed to set up a biodiversity cooperation project in.

The three-year project will commence in 1996 at an estimated cost of US$3.6 million.

Despite the efforts at cooperation, the workshop was still dogged by political rivalry.

"The political relationship between China and Taiwan continues to overshadow our activities," Indonesia's Ambassador-at-large for Maritime Affairs, Hasyim Djalal, was quoted by AFP as saying.

Discussions yesterday also centered around the possibility of establishing a secretariat, an idea which was dismissed in the fifth workshop, to better coordinate the cooperation projects.

Several delegates expressed reservations, fearing that this would institutionalize the cooperation.

The workshop is deemed informal, with all delegates attending in their individual, rather than official capacity. This ensured the participation of both China and Taiwan. (mds)