South East Asia Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
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ManilaBoy45
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Re: ASEAN Military News
Is there a reason why the name of this thread suddenly changed ...
Is there a reason why the name of this thread suddenly changed ...
Officers of the Vietnamese Marine Guard monitor a Chinese coast guard vessel on the South China Sea, about 210 kilometers off the coast of Vietnam, on Thursday. Reuters
JAKARTA, Indonesia—China needs to leave disputed waters of the South China Sea, the Asean secretary-general said Friday.
The "next step now, we have to get China out of the territorial waters of" Vietnam, Secretary-General Le Luong Minh told The Wall Street Journal. "That's the first thing."
Doing that "will be conducive to restoring confidence" in talks to resolve disputed claims by several countries in the resource-rich waters, Mr. Minh said.
Mr. Minh, a Vietnamese national, was speaking amid an outburst of violence this week outside Ho Chi Minh City and in central Vietnam in response to a tense standoff over an oil rig China recently placed in contested parts of the South China Sea.
Vietnam says the Chinese oil rig is 241 kilometers from Vietnam's shore, well within its "exclusive economic zone," defined by the United Nations as areas extending 370 km from a country's coast. China, however, claims jurisdiction over the waters, off the Paracel Islands, which are controlled by China but also claimed by Hanoi.
Mr. Minh's statement was the strongest yet by a spokesman for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Four Asean members—Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei—have territorial disputes with China in the waters.
The statement also marked a shift for Mr. Minh, who during an Asean summit last weekend pointed to a joint statement that expressed "serious concern" over the Vietnam-China confrontation but stopped shy of criticizing Beijing.
On Friday, Mr. Minh said China's move was a setback to regional talks and showed again that a declaration of conduct signed by China and Asean in 2002 "has not been effective enough in preventing these incidents."
A lack of progress with China in resolving territorial claims has been "disappointing," he said, and the latest incident made it all the "more important that we try to engage in substantive consultations and negotiations."
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that he shared Mr. Minh's view that "this is a very dangerous situation" and that he was calling on Asean members to "renew their thoughts on the South China Sea."
Mr. Natalegawa stopped short of supporting Mr. Minh's calls for China to leave the region, but said "China must deliver on its officially stated commitment to implement" the 2002 declaration and push forward with talks in earnest.
Currently, he said, there is "almost an attempt to deny there is an issue in the first place."
Sek Wannamethee, spokesman for Thailand's Foreign Ministry, declined to comment on Mr. Minh's statement, saying the conflict was a bilateral issue between Vietnam and China.
The islands, reefs and atolls of the South China Sea, and the waters around them, are claimed in whole or in part by six governments. Though the disputes have prevented thorough exploration, energy analysts believe significant reserves of oil and gas lie beneath its seabed.
Write to Ben Otto at [email protected]
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Weighs in on China-Vietnam Standoff
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa delivers a speech in Jakarta, on March 1.
European Pressphoto Agency
By itself, Vietnam seems to have little recourse in its current standoff with China over waters both claim.
And so far it has had limited success in rallying the support of its closest neighbors – or the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian nations, which has long tried to negotiate a binding Code of Conduct in the disputed sea. The regional body signed a declaration of conduct with China in 2002 intended to usher in that code.
Indonesia, where Asean has its head office, has played a mediating role in resolving a handful of regional conflicts, including a dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and over a historic temple.
In an interview, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa weighed in on some of the issues confronting Asean and Indonesia in the current China-Vietnam impasse. Edited excerpts follow.
On Asean’s role
It’s both a bilateral and a regional issue, and Asean has a special responsibility to ensure that the conditions are right for the two sides to talk. By not doing anything, we are actually doing something by making it worse. In this case, Asean’s state of mind, in terms of rallying around Vietnam in this situation, was instant and immediate.
On China’s actions
There is almost an attempt to deny there is an issue in the first place; the acknowledgement of dispute is what is now being tested. China must deliver on its often-stated commitment to implement the DOC. It’s clear as daylight about the need to exercise restraint.
Questions Mr. Natalegawa is asking
How can all of the DOC become practically relevant? If not now, when? We have all these wonderfully-crafted principles; the time for relevance is now.
On Asean’s progress
This time around, fortunately, we have the basics; we have the six-point principles after the Asean foreign ministers meeting in Cambodia in 2012. Now I’m trying to take it one notch higher. If China says it’s committed to implementing the DOC and creating the COC how can we reconcile that with China’s position that there is no dispute?
The next step
Indonesia is calling on Asean states to renew their thoughts on the South China Sea in a more robust manner. And Indonesia is keen to build on what should be uniting the two countries. Number one is communication. In the first few days of confrontation, China and Vietnam weren’t even taking phone calls with one another, and now they are. At least communication is underway.
I’ve also been in intensive communication with foreign ministers of China and Vietnam. Both sides independently say they want restraint – in words. I have been trying to get the two to define what they mean by self-restraint.
Write to Cris Larano at [email protected]
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa delivers a speech in Jakarta, on March 1.
European Pressphoto Agency
By itself, Vietnam seems to have little recourse in its current standoff with China over waters both claim.
And so far it has had limited success in rallying the support of its closest neighbors – or the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian nations, which has long tried to negotiate a binding Code of Conduct in the disputed sea. The regional body signed a declaration of conduct with China in 2002 intended to usher in that code.
Indonesia, where Asean has its head office, has played a mediating role in resolving a handful of regional conflicts, including a dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and over a historic temple.
In an interview, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa weighed in on some of the issues confronting Asean and Indonesia in the current China-Vietnam impasse. Edited excerpts follow.
On Asean’s role
It’s both a bilateral and a regional issue, and Asean has a special responsibility to ensure that the conditions are right for the two sides to talk. By not doing anything, we are actually doing something by making it worse. In this case, Asean’s state of mind, in terms of rallying around Vietnam in this situation, was instant and immediate.
On China’s actions
There is almost an attempt to deny there is an issue in the first place; the acknowledgement of dispute is what is now being tested. China must deliver on its often-stated commitment to implement the DOC. It’s clear as daylight about the need to exercise restraint.
Questions Mr. Natalegawa is asking
How can all of the DOC become practically relevant? If not now, when? We have all these wonderfully-crafted principles; the time for relevance is now.
On Asean’s progress
This time around, fortunately, we have the basics; we have the six-point principles after the Asean foreign ministers meeting in Cambodia in 2012. Now I’m trying to take it one notch higher. If China says it’s committed to implementing the DOC and creating the COC how can we reconcile that with China’s position that there is no dispute?
The next step
Indonesia is calling on Asean states to renew their thoughts on the South China Sea in a more robust manner. And Indonesia is keen to build on what should be uniting the two countries. Number one is communication. In the first few days of confrontation, China and Vietnam weren’t even taking phone calls with one another, and now they are. At least communication is underway.
I’ve also been in intensive communication with foreign ministers of China and Vietnam. Both sides independently say they want restraint – in words. I have been trying to get the two to define what they mean by self-restraint.
Write to Cris Larano at [email protected]
Vietnam's U S ambassador on spat with China
[video=youtube;o8Iae9MruXA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Iae9MruXA[/video]
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Vietnamese Ambassador to the US, Nguyen Quoc Cuong was interviewed recently by CNN reporter Amanpour at CNN's headquarters in Washington on May 28.
The Ambassador affirmed that China's actions seriously violate Vietnam's sovereignty, international law, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) when the country placed the Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig and escort ships in Vietnam's waters.
He also stressed that China is creating new difficulties on the ground and trying to turn an undisputed area into a disputed area, which is unacceptable.
In regard to Vietnam's foreign policy, Mr Cuong said Vietnam pursues an independent foreign policy and hopes to maintain friendly relations with China, the US, and other countries but does not accept coercion or threats. He underscored Vietnamese people's determination to defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity. Furthermore, Vietnamese people around the world are well aware that nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.
[video=youtube;o8Iae9MruXA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Iae9MruXA[/video]
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Vietnamese Ambassador to the US, Nguyen Quoc Cuong was interviewed recently by CNN reporter Amanpour at CNN's headquarters in Washington on May 28.
The Ambassador affirmed that China's actions seriously violate Vietnam's sovereignty, international law, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) when the country placed the Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig and escort ships in Vietnam's waters.
He also stressed that China is creating new difficulties on the ground and trying to turn an undisputed area into a disputed area, which is unacceptable.
In regard to Vietnam's foreign policy, Mr Cuong said Vietnam pursues an independent foreign policy and hopes to maintain friendly relations with China, the US, and other countries but does not accept coercion or threats. He underscored Vietnamese people's determination to defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity. Furthermore, Vietnamese people around the world are well aware that nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.
China move became more aggressive ...
[video=youtube;pg9uoueaxXU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg9uoueaxXU[/video]
[video=youtube;RICfonGT-y4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RICfonGT-y4[/video]
Chinese large ship ramming a small Vietnamese fishing boat -DNa 90152 sinking it inside Vietnam's EEZ on 26 May 2014
[video=youtube;pg9uoueaxXU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg9uoueaxXU[/video]
[video=youtube;RICfonGT-y4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RICfonGT-y4[/video]
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