The South China Sea Code

Borneo Post

2 days ago

Photo shows a chain of islands in the South China Sea. — AFP photo
FIRST of all, I wish to join other Malaysians in congratulating Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, our Prime Minister, for his recent success in securing the agreement of Thailand and Cambodia to stop fighting,
For a while, anyway. At the time of writing this article, the ceasefire appeared to be holding.
Secondly, I think there is a job that Malaysia should also attempt, as Chairman of Asean. The success in the peace-making is no mean achievement for our country, showing the relevance of Malaysia's role in international diplomacy.
All this success at diplomacy should embolden our diplomats to think about embarking on another task – tuning the text of the South China Sea Code of Conduct (COC).
Asean leaders have been talking about this Code for the past 20 years or so, but have not been able to produce it for reasons only the diplomatic fraternity would talk about, out of hearing of the journalists.
The COC is a mechanism for managing internal disputes among the littoral countries of Asean, namely the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and China.
China's active participation in the discussion on the Code is crucial because all decisions reached at meetings will be binding on the countries concerned.
Good relations and rapport between China and the Asean member countries are urgent because these Asean member countries lie inside the loop of the so-called 'Nine-Dash Line'; they must be set free as soon as possible.
Asian and China's statesmen in the past wanted this region of the world to be classified as a Zone of Peace and Neutrality (ZOPAN).
Why cannot it remain such for all times?
The current leaders of the countries and China must show statesmanship if they want history to be kind to their leadership when they disappear from the scene.
By 2018, the soft copy of the Code was put on the backburner until Singapore assumed the Asean Chair.
According to a report by Reuters, quoted by The Borneo Post on Feb 8, 2018, the move to 'expedite negotiations on a code of conduct on China for the disputed South China Sea' had hit a snag.
But this was eventually solved after China and Asean had decided on a negotiating framework.
In fact, the parties had begun preliminary discussions on the Code itself.
Unfortunately, the substantive discussions petered out.
I don't know why.
Meanwhile, China's activities in terms of building more and more islands/land reclamations in parts of the Sea, threats about an imminent invasion of Taiwan by China, and about the use of water cannons on Filipino fishers by Chinese patrol boats, made the littoral states nervous.
To compound the anxiety, there has been intense competition for hegemony between China and the USA, the 'Big Boys'.
More worries for the peoples of the Asean block. Hence the urgency for a rule to govern relations.
We were relieved for a short time only when in 2016 the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled that 'China's Nine-Dash Line had no legal basis', referring to a judgment in a case brought by the Philippines against China.
But China simply rejected the ruling.
Malaysia, if given the chance to handle the fine-tuning of the Code, has to be careful about making too much noise (fishing in troubled waters).
We must avoid getting into trouble with China, or be seen as siding with other major powers.
But the job is of such importance that the Chairman of Asean is expected to handle it, however difficult the task will be.
The idea of the COC was seriously discussed in August of 2018. It should be a mechanism by which disputes would be managed, peace and stability be promoted among all the littoral states around the South China Sea.
Reuters reported that 'China and the 10- member Asean block adopted a negotiating framework on the code and had commenced talks on the code itself'.
That was seven years ago.
It is a difficult issue to solve indeed but Malaysia, given another chance at diplomacy, has nothing to lose by trying!
Try it we must for a reason – a good reason.
The federal government of Malaysia might lose some credibility on the home front should Malaysia's national interests in Sarawak, now at stake, be relegated to the backburner – or worse, ignored.
Don't forget that Sarawak and Sabah, with long shorelines facing the South China Sea, are well within the sights of any power that might want to enforce a Nine-Dash-Line!
When Malaysia was about to assume the chairmanship of Asean, many people in Sarawak were wondering if the federal government had forgotten about the state's interests.
These interests were subject to dispute by China, referring to the famous Nine-Dash-Line again.
The preservation and protection of this nation's rights and interests over the territorial waters off Sarawak are fundamental to the future of the Federation itself.
That's not just headline fodder, obviously Sarawak can't be expected to defend its own territory against possible attacks from the sea!
It is essential that all the Asean countries, where the territorial waters are inside that Nine-Dash-Line, to come together and, in one voice, talk to China about mutual respect for each other's right to own property within one's boundary.
* The opinions expressed in this article are the columnist's own and do not reflect the view of the newspaper. asean China nine-dash line south china sea