China drags feet on formalizing Spratlys Code of Conduct

By Michaela P. del Callar

10/31/2009

The Chinese government is in no hurry to transform the existing Code of Conduct among claimants in the disputed South China Sea territories into a more legally-binding document.

At a press briefing yesterday, Chinese Ambassador to Manila Liu Jianchao said that at the moment Beijing is satisfied with the existing non-binding agreement, although consultations and negotiations are taking place among claimants to eventually turn it into a formal Code of Conduct.

Liu expressed belief that if all the claimant states would cooperate and strictly adhere to the document, known as the Declaration of Parties on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (DoC), there would be little chance for conflict.

“The DoC is a very good document. I think if all parties abide by and follow the guidelines of the document and refrain from taking unilateral actions, peace and stability can be ensured in this part of the world,” he said.

The Chinese envoy practically said that Beijing actually wants to avoid confrontation over the disputed territories and will itself stick to the Code of Conduct while continuing to work out with other claimant countries an equitable agreement on the territorial row.

“China will continue to work with (claimant) countries and to talk about the cooperation and negotiations of the Nansha dispute. I think that we will continue to work with the DoC and abide by the DoC,” Liu said.

He also said China is not inclined to use its military as a means to ensure it wins the contested area in the South China Sea.

“We will never seek to address this issue through military means and confrontation or war. We hope the parties will abide by the DoC to have peaceful negotiations with all the claimant parties,” he said.

Liu said a peaceful and friendly environment is a more welcome state as it fosters development of the region. He added Beijing hopes it and the other claimant states arrive at a “win-win” solution over the issue.

“Peaceful settlements and cooperation will take a long time, but that is the right choice and the best choice,” he stressed.

But while the Chinese envoy vowed that his country does not seek to heighten tensions over the contested territory, China has apparently been doing the opposite.

Just recently, last March 16, the Chinese government stirred controversy by sending a patrol ship to the Spratly islands. When it was chastised over the action it defended it by saying it was not a violation of the agreement to maintain the peace in the area as the vessel was a “fishery patrol ship, not a warship.”

“(By sending a fishery patrol ship to the area) I don’t think the Chinese side has done anything or violated the Declaration of the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea,” Hua Ye, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Manila, said in a statement.

The statement was issued out a day after China’s Beijing News said a converted naval patrol vessel had been dispatched to China’s claimed exclusive maritime zones which covers the disputed Spratlys and Paracels island.

The report said the ship was sent out to assist Chinese fishing boats and transport vessels.

The move, however, was largely seen as China flexing its military might against the smaller claimants.

China has, in the past recent years, periodically sparked tension with the other claimant governments by its incursions into the Spratlys, where it reportedly built military installations.

Military skirmishes in the area have occurred numerous times in the past three decades. The most serious occurred in 1976, when China invaded and captured the Paracel Islands from Vietnam, and in 1988, when Chinese and Vietnamese navies clashed at Johnson Reef in the Spratly Islands, sinking several Vietnamese boats and killing over 70 sailors.

Seen as one of Asia’s major flashpoints, the Spratlys, which is referred to by China as the Nansha Islands, is a cluster of islands, shoals, islets, atolls, cays and reefs along the South China Sea. It is said to be harboring rich minerals and oil reserves and is claimed in part or in whole by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan.

In 2002, Southeast Asian nations and China signed the landmark DoC to reduce the tension among the territory’s claimants by agreeing to maintain a status quo over it and temporarily putting ownership issues in the backburner.

The document also calls for a halt to the conduct of any activity – including military build-up and construction work – on the disputed islands by all claimants to avoid the escalation of the row. It, though, encourages activities in the area that only help to build mutual trust, cooperation and confidence among claimant-states.

Like China, the Philippines has vowed to abide by the DoC and has urged other claimants to do the same.

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