Singapore seen to be meddling in Spratlys pact
The Star, Malaysia
October 31, 2002
Comment by MERGAWATI ZULFAKAR
Related:
Singapore meddling in Spratlys - Filipino Foreign Affairs
Philippine Star
AN intriguing article headlined ?Singapore meddling in Spratlys?
appeared in the Philippine Star recently in which the island
republic is accused of trying to gatecrash a declaration being
drafted for adoption by claimant countries to avoid conflict in the
oil and mineral-rich area.
It is obvious Singapore has no business in the Spratlys as it is a
non-claimant country.
The claimant countries comprise four Asean members ? Malaysia,
Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines ? while Taiwan and China also
have a stake.
So why does Singapore want to be included in the activities when it
is not a claimant?
Asean leaders at their summit in 1998 agreed to promote efforts to
establish a regional code of conduct within the South China Sea on
how claimant countries should behave and go about resolving the
issue of the Spratlys.
But it hit a snag when members could not reach an agreement on the
geographical scope of the code.
Things picked up again in July during the Asean Ministerial Meeting
when Malaysia proposed that the group issue a declaration as a
confidence-building measure towards creating peace and security
within the South China Sea.
Everything went well and the draft Declaration on the Conduct of
the Parties in the South China Sea is set to be adopted at the
Asean summit in Cambodia on Nov 4-5.
But now Singapore has thrown a spanner in the works. It wants to be
involved directly in the activities in the Spratly islands.
Singapore apparently made representations at a recent senior
officials meeting about its desire to have non-claimant countries
included.
One can?t help but wonder why Singapore is doing this because all
10 members of Asean will be ?signatories? to the declaration.
The Philippine Star report said Singapore does not want the
declaration to be confined exclusively to between China and the
other Spratly claimants.
Being a non-claimant country, Singapore can only hope to be
?invited? to join in the activities.
The draft of the declaration, among other things, states that the
?parties concerned,? meaning the claimant countries, may explore or
undertake co-operative activities including marine environmental
protection, marine scientific research, safety of navigation and
communication at sea and search-and-rescue operations.
Perhaps if there is no other way to get the declaration adopted by
every single member, then the Asean claimant countries could make
the declaration exclusive among themselves.
But that is not the Asean way of doing things, is it?
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