ASEAN Reaffirms Commitment on the South China Sea Issue

AKP Phnom Penh, July 20, 2012 —

ASEAN Foreign Ministers reiterated and reaffirmed the commitment of the ASEAN Member States on the South China Sea issue, H.E. Hor Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said at a press conference here this afternoon.

The ASEAN Member States are committed to the full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002, the Guidelines for the implementation of the DOC in 2011, the early conclusion of a Regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC), the full respect of the universally recognized principles of International Law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the continued exercise of self-restraint and non-use of force by all parties, and the peaceful resolution of disputes, in accordance with universally recognized principles of International Law, including the 1982 UNCLOS, he said.

H.E. Hor Namhong also underlined that the ASEAN Foreign Ministers resolved to intensify ASEAN consultations in the advancement of the above Six-Point Principles, consistent with the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and the ASEAN Charter.

“These Six-Point Principles on the South China Sea were approved by all the ten ASEAN Foreign Ministers,” he said.

These principles did not mention about the bilateral disputes such as Scarborough Shoal and the Exclusive Economic Zone in the South China Sea, said H.E. Hor Namhong, stressing that they were not different from Cambodia’s principle stance raised during the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Phnom Penh last week.

The ASEAN member countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Among the ten members, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia have partially claimed the sovereignty of the oil and gas-rich South China Sea.

By KHAN Sophirom