All powers that want to contribute to the security of the region are welcome to operate in global waterways, Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Wednesday (Nov 4), after concerns were raised regarding the United States’ plan to conduct regular patrols in the highly contentious South China Sea area.
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Earlier, a senior USA defense official said China was lobbying Southeast Asian nations to drop any reference to concerns over the South China Sea in the statement. Yomiuri said that sentence was also missing from the final draft.
China has opposed any mention of the South China Sea in the joint statement, let alone discussing the issue during the ASEAN meeting. Brunei is one of the four Asean member countries that have disputes over South China Sea. “It reflects the divide China’s reclamation and militarization … has caused”, said the official, adding that no statement was better than one that dodged mention of China’s activity.
The Direct Communications Link proposal was unveiled at the Asean defence minister’s meeting in Subang, in the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur. The others are Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
He said: “The very fact that we couldn’t agree on a joint declaration is not necessarily a bad thing”.
Hishammuddin was speaking to the ADMM and ADMM Plus leaders after the handing over ceremony of Asean Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) Chairmanship to Lao National Defense Minister Liutenant General Sengnouane Sayalat today.
A copy of remarks by Hishammuddin, which appeared to have been issued to media by mistake and then retracted, stated that ASEAN sought a “peaceful resolution to the disputes … collisions in open seas and skies must be avoided at all costs”.
This will be the third ADMM-Plus meeting since its inaugural gathering in 2010, and it comes just a week after a USA warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in the Spratly archipelago.
He believed Asean will be able to find other avenues to resolve differences over territorial claims.
The foundation of the bilateral ties between China and Malaysia has become more and more solid, and the future development of the two countries’ bilateral relations is prospective, the Chinese defense minister said.
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“The Teddy Roosevelt’s presence there and our visit is a symbol of our commitment to a rebalance and the importance of the Asia Pacific to the United States”, Carter said.
