Spratlys talks end with positive cooperation plan

Spratlys talks end with positive cooperation plan

BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan (Reuters): Informal talks on the potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea ended yesterday with a muted agreement to increase cooperation and build confidence among the rival claimants.

In the final statement of the sixth round of the Indonesia- brokered talks, participants said they agreed to continue to seek increased cooperation and trust in the South China Sea and to hold a seventh meeting next year.

"The participants agreed to continue to work on increasing cooperative efforts and confidence building in the South China Sea region...and to convene in the seventh workshop in Indonesia in 1996," it said.

The Spratlys are a cluster of potentially oil-rich isles and reefs in the South China Sea claimed wholly or in part by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

The latest round of talks are the first since tension between rival claimants returned to the surface early this year in the wake of a row between China and its neighbors.

The Philippines accused China of sending armed ships and building an outpost on Mischief Reef, west of the southern Philippine island of Palawan.

The Balikpapan statement said the participants approved a project to study the tides and sea level change in the South China Sea and another project on marine science data and research in the area.

The participants, who included senior officials and academics in their private capacities, stressed the meeting did not prejudice or affect jurisdictional claims.

Earlier, claimants agreed to launch a US$3.6 million study on biodiversity in the sea by next year. Participants said the move helped boost confidence that tension could be reduced.

Last week, China, Taiwan and nine other southeast Asian nations agreed for the first time to boost cooperation on navigation, shipping and communications in the South China Sea.

Soendaroe Rachmat, the head of the Research and Development Agency at Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a news conference on Thursday some participants said confidence-building measures should not be discussed in the next meetings.

"Some others, on the contrary, believe that the issue should be discussed in the next meetings," he said, but gave no other details.

Hasjim Djalal, Indonesia's ambassador-at-large for maritime affairs, said earlier many points were raised during the discussion on confidence-building on Wednesday, but that no agreement was reached.

"Many points were raised that could help confidence-building measures...and the most important one, I think, is not to carry out military exercises," he said.

Other ideas discussed were to develop contact and social activities among the military commanders in the disputed area and reaffirm the declaration not to use force, he said.

The talks, brokered by Indonesia since 1990, were attended by claimant nations as well as Laos, Singapore and Thailand.