UPDATED at 7:38 a.m. ET on 2024-01-02
Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, have issued the unprecedented stand-alone statement on the South China Sea, vowing a “peaceful resolution of disputes” in the area.
“We closely follow with concern the recent developments in the South China Sea that may undermine peace, security, and stability in the region,” said the foreign ministers of the union, cited by a statement on Dec. 30, 2023.
“We recall and reaffirm our shared commitment to maintaining and promoting peace, security, and stability in the region, as well as to the peaceful resolution of disputes, including full respect for legal and diplomatic processes, without resorting to the threat or use of force.”
The rare statement comes amid some ASEAN members being embroiled in a long-standing maritime dispute over the area.
In recent months, for instance, China and the Philippines have had a spate of confrontations near some of the atolls that both countries claim but lie within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
In early December, both of them accused each other of provoking conflict by conducting dangerous maneuvers.
China and five other parties including four ASEAN member states – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – hold competing claims in the South China Sea but the Chinese claims are the most expansive.
“The statement probably emerged from Indonesia and the Philippines’ diplomatic efforts,” Shahriman Lockman, a political scientist at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) in Malaysia, told Radio Free Asia.
Indonesia is the rotating chair of ASEAN in 2023.
“While it appears harmless and avoids making explicit reference to maritime confrontations between China and the Philippines, the very existence of the statement is meaningful and establishes a notable precedent,” said Lockman.
“It amplifies the expectation that ASEAN could and should issue declarations in response to escalating tensions in the South China Sea.”
ASEAN has relied greatly on the principles of consultation and consensus in its operations, and that explains why the statement did not mention China, neither the Philippines, when talking about “recent developments in the South China Sea,” according to Lockman.
“I’m guessing that that’s what was needed to get the support of some of the other ASEAN member states that are a little more sensitive to China’s pressure,” said the analyst.
Principles of UNCLOS
The six-point statement referred to “international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)” repeatedly, reiterating the importance of the international legal and diplomatic processes.
In 2016, in a case brought by the Philippines, an international arbitration tribunal ruled that China’s claim to “historic rights” over the South China Sea and the islands inside is unlawful.
Beijing, however, refused to accept the ruling.
“We underscored the importance of the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in its entirety and committed to working towards the early conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) that is in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS,” the statement said.
China and ASEAN agreed on a DOC in 2002, but progress on a legally binding COC has been slow going amid an increasing risk of conflict.
The ASEAN foreign ministers’ statement stopped short of calling out any separate country but said “We welcome the recent holding of a maritime dialogue between China and the United States in Beijing and the meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and China President Xi Jinping on the margins of the APEC Leaders’ Meeting in California.”
The statement added: “We hope that such dialogues will continue to further ASEAN’s efforts to strengthen stability and cooperation in the region’s maritime sphere.”
Edited by Taejun Kang and Elaine Chan.
Updated to correct to 2023 instead of 2024 for the year of Indonesia’s ASEAN chairmanship.