Reports last week said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Manila he would consider sending his country’s ships to back up American operations in the area.
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Countries which participated at the summit were the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, and Brunei-with Australia, People’s Republic of China, Republic of India, Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand.
China, which claims nearly the entire energy-rich South China Sea, has been transforming reefs into artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago and building airfields and other facilities on a few of them.
President Benigno Aquino III expressed his appreciation for Japan’s resolute stand on resolving maritime disputes through peaceful means and in accordance with the global law.
The Philippines has been the most vocal in challenging China.
“In the context of the evolving relations in the region, responsible states have also been increasingly called upon to assume more significant roles”, he said. He said: “It’s only in the past five years that China has acquired the capability to project power in the neighborhood and that power is growing”.
Earlier this month, U.S. B-52 bombers flew near a few of the islands, signalling Washington’s determination to challenge Beijing’s claim.
“In recent years, the South China Sea disputes, which should have been addressed by directly concerned countries through negotiation and talks, have been played up to become a problem concerning the South China Sea’s peace and stability and the freedom of navigation”, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in Kuala Lumpur according to Xinhua. “I think they (China) have to try to figure out, going forward, how they can recalibrate their positioning”.
And for all the hostility on the issue, Mr Ong said China and the United States are unlikely to let the situation get out of hand, as a closer scrutiny of recent events shows.
ASEAN on Saturday issued a joint statement stressing the need to maintain freedom of navigation and over-flight rights in the South China Sea. “We will destroy them”.
Both Mr Ong and Prof Huang agreed that, for ASEAN, staying united and negotiating behind the scenes with China remains the best course of action.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called on world leaders to confront Islamist extremism, saying its “barbaric acts” do not represent any race or religion, as he opened a regional summit overshadowed by a spate of attacks around the globe.
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“Destroying (Islamic State) is not only a realistic goal, we’re going to get it done”, Obama said.
