South China Sea disputes on front burner at regional meet

Conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea were expected to dominate the agenda at the gathering of South-East Asian foreign ministers and their regional counterparts on Indonesia's resort island of Bali this week.

Tensions have been rising between members of the Association of South South-East Asian Nations (Asean) and China over control of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

Recent incidents at sea involving China, Vietnam and the Philippines have raised concerns about regional security.

The Spratlies and other parts of the South China Sea are claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, all Asean members.

"Whether we like it or not, it's a fact of life that the issue of the South China Sea has grabbed our attention, especially given the dynamics of the recent weeks," Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.

Talks in Bali were to start with the Asean ministerial meeting on Tuesday, followed by the meeting known as Asean+3, which includes China, Japan and South Korea on Thursday.

On Saturday, foreign ministers from 27 countries including the 10 Asean member states, Russia and the United States, grouped under the Asean Regional Forum (ARF), the largest security forum in the region, were to meet to discuss security issues in the region.

In 2002, Asean and China agreed to a non-binding declaration, which commits the parties to settling South China Sea disputes peacefully and respecting the status quo.

Natalegawa said the Bali meeting would work on drawing up a more binding code of conduct. Asean wants to complete the negotiation for the code of conduct before a summit in November.

"I'm not pessimistic that we can make significant progress if all sides have goodwill," he said.

Vietnam has in recent weeks accused China of harassing seismic survey ships and fishing boats in the contested area, while Beijing has alleged that Vietnamese boats had entered its waters illegally and endangered Chinese fishermen.

China insists that the disputes should be settled bilaterally with the respective countries, and has urged the United States not to get involved.

Beijing also criticised joint military exercises between Vietnam and the US last week, calling the activities "inappropriate" given tensions over territory in the region.

Also expected to feature at the Asean meeting was a dispute between member states Thailand and Cambodia over land near an ancient temple on their border. The two militaries clashed at the site in April, leaving 18 people dead and dozens more wounded.

Indonesia, as the current Asean chair, has tried to mediate, but with little success.

"The Cambodia-Thailand border dispute is a reminder of the limited role that Asean can realistically play in assuring regional security," Jessica Brown, a research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, said in an opinion piece in The Jakarta Post.

"The only real option available to Asean in the South China Sea disputes, and to Indonesia as its chair, is to continue encouraging the US to play an active role in the region to counterbalance to China's growing weight," she said.

Asean members were also keen to discuss ways to improve disaster response coordination with its dialogue partners, Natalegawa said.

"We want to focus on concrete steps that can be taken when a disaster strikes so that we can save more lives, including removing the bottleneck to make sure that aid can be sent immediately," he said.

The group also hopes to convince nuclear-weapon states to endorse its Treaty on the South-East Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, agreed in 1995 in Thailand, the Indonesian foreign minister said.

Tensions between North and South Korea, or Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme, were not expected to feature on the agenda.