Nguyen
Dinh Chien, Vietnam Institute of Defense Strategies
Abstract. The
policy’s Asian toward East Sea issue always topical issues, attracting the
attention of international public opinion and the region. In July 2016, after
the Court of Arbitration in La Haye ruled the East Sea, but the East Sea does not
appear to wind waves, but still flowing underground water line, not quiet.
Assessing the changing ASEAN’s East Sea policy’s significant in the past two
years. Naturally, said the overall situation changes Nanhai also need to
evaluate the change of institutional policy other action - especially change US
policy, ally and partner of the United
States.
Keywords: ASEAN, East Sea, The policy.
1. ASEAN's Policy Situation in the East Sea:
Recently, the 32nd ASEAN Summit
held in Singapore, there were many issues mentioned at this conference, which’s
an especially important issue for regional
security is to analyze the contents related to the East Sea in Declaration of
ASEAN Chair in the past two years may find some subtle change in the policy’s
East Sea ASEAN. In addition to the joint statement by the ASEAN Foreign
Ministers, the ASEAN Chair's Statement is the most explicit statement of
ASEAN's official stance. From September 2004 until now, the ASEAN Summit
announced a total of 4 Declaration of the President, The Declaration of the
28th-29th ASEAN Presidencies in Vientiane, Lao PDR, in September 2016,
Declaration of the 30th ASEAN Chairman in Manila, Philippines in April 2017,
Declaration of the 31st ASEAN Presidency of Manila in the Philippines in November
1974 and the Declaration of the 32nd ASEAN Chairmanship in Singapore on 28
April.
Policy content of the ASEAN ‘s East
Sea issue is expressed in these documents is the overall improvement in
relations between ASEAN and China, especially evolved when negotiations on the
Code of Conduct in the South China Sea - COC. In 8/2016, the parties related to
the South China Sea have decided to accelerate the negotiations COC. In May
2017, senior officials from China and ASEAN discussed through the COC. On
06/8/2017, the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers announced the achievement of the
draft COC framework (Observer, 2017), this draft framework was adopted at the ASEAN-China Senior
Officials Meeting on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the South China Sea, abbreviated SOM-DOC in Guiyang, China on 19
May, 2017. In 11/2017, Summit China - ASEAN official statement COC start
negotiations.
2. Major Factors in ASEAN
Policy Towards the East Sea:
Consider four of the Declaration of
ASEAN Chair, can see the views of ASEAN on East Sea issue has five big factor
as follows:
The first’s to clearly demonstrate the macro-objective of the East Sea.
These four texts reaffirm the importance of maintaining peace, security,
stability and freedom of navigation and flying through the East Sea. The
Declaration of the 31st ASEAN Presidency issued by the Philippines in November
1974 in Manila further clarified the importance of safeguarding maritime
security and order based on the general rule.
The Declaration of the 30th and 32nd ASEAN
Presidents expressed the perception that the interests of the South China Sea
are peaceful, prosperous and stable waters. In general, ASEAN's position on the
East Sea high inheritance.
The second factor is the assessment of the situation in the East Sea.
Words and expressions on this issue are new in the five elements, reflecting
the consensus within ASEAN. The Declaration of the 28th and 29th ASEAN
Presidents expressed deep concern over the recent and present situation, with
regard to the current status change and escalation of action in the East Sea,
while worries these actions increased the tension, may affect peace, security
and stability of the region. Expressions of deep concern’re the wording atmosphere of tension in the East Sea in the
present context.
The Declaration of the 30th ASEAN Chair in April 2017 only paid
attention to the concerns of some leaders over the recent activity in the East
Sea. Declaration of the 31st ASEAN Chairman in November 2017 also mentioned
this issue. However, in terms of the wording of
this declaration, the two countries depend on
ASEAN's rotating presidency in 2017 in the Philippines. In that year, Duterte
government to improve relations with China, intended to reduce tensions in the
East Sea (Declarations, 2007). Although the Declaration of ASEAN
Chair locks 32 no phrase deep concern while
referring to the concerns about changing the status quo, escalating actions in
the East Sea, anxious for peace, security and stability in the East Sea. This
proved positive factor in the perception of ASEAN East Sea situation ‘s
somewhat increased compared to 2016.
The third factor in ASEAN's view of
the East Sea issue ‘s that the proposal situation for action complicating
China's situation. The declaration of the 28-29 ASEAN Presidency reaffirms the
need to strengthen mutual and building trust, restrain unsettled behavior,
avoid jobs that can complicate the situation’s form, settlement of disputes by
peaceful means on the basis of international law, including the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 - UNCLOS. At the same time, underscoring
the importance of demilitarization and self-restraint
in all actions including the change of status in the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa
archipelagos can lead to complexity of the situation and increase tension in
the East Sea. Remarkably, the way the requirements of non-militarization and
self-restraint are addressed in these four statements is somewhat different.
The text that has the softest phrases is the Chairman's statement of April 30,
1971, reiterating the importance of strengthening mutual trust and building
trust, maintain self-control action, avoid actions that could lead to complicating the situation, settle disputes by peaceful means,
without threatening the use of force.
Declaration of ASEAN Chair 32 has
just been announced basically agreed with the statement by the ASEAN Chair
28-29, but thinner soft words emphasize the importance of demilitarization and
self-restraint in all actions, including actions that could complicate the
situation and increase tensions that DOC mentioned. This consistency
demonstrates that China's military action and strategic action in the East Sea’
re the basis for ASEAN to assess China's
strategic intentions and develop response strategies.
The fourth factor in ASEAN's view
of the East Sea issue ‘s that in order to maintain peace and stability in the
East Sea, it ‘s necessary to strengthen confidence building, eliminate doubts
among the parties. In this regard, four of the Chairman Statement on not differ
essentially anonymous. The text stressed the importance of measures of mutual
trust, welcomed the application of the South China Sea two options implemented
soon include hotline diplomat, rules for handling the collision unwanted in
emergency situations at sea between ASEAN - China.
The fifth factor in ASEAN's view of
the South China Sea is its stance in the Declaration of Conduct on the East Sea
- the DOC and the COC. ASEAN emphasized the comprehensive and effective
implementation of the DOC while encouraging the parties to quickly implement
the COC. Words in the Declaration of the ASEAN Chair, 28-29 June 2016 (ASEAN, 2016) is the strongest,
emphasizing the urgency of implementing the DOC and negotiation the COC.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith
declared ASEAN 28-29 Summit successful and thanked for support and cooperation
of ASEAN Member States, Dialogue Partners and external partners; It also
stresses that 2016 is only the first year of implementation of the ASEAN
Community Vision 2025 (ASEAN, 2017), ASEAN Summit on 28-29 this time through many documents to
turn vision into reality as a dynamic ASEAN community ‘s important, but the
next step will be a very important meaning by ASEAN should turn it into the
document specific action (VietnamPlus, 2016).
Declaration of the 30th ASEAN
Presidency and 31st 2017 (HUU, 2017) emphasized
the progress ASEAN-China cooperation, the urgent requirements. Declaration of
the 32nd ASEAN Chairman (Philstar Global, 2018) newly published warmly welcomed progress of
China-ASEAN cooperation, at the same time, the emphasis
being placed on deepening the negotiation of COC.
ASEAN can see the overall
satisfaction with the progress of negotiations COC while
tying the level of cooperation with China with COC negotiations progressed.
Cooperation between China and ASEAN in the past two years on the implementation
of DOC and COC deployment negotiations positive, remarkable. In 2016, ASEAN's
attitude towards China over the East Sea issue ‘s somewhat skeptical of China's
words and actions in the East Sea, thus stressing the urgency of implementing
the DOC and negotiating COC. After 2017, ASEAN feels the urgency of the COC
process. Future negotiations progressed surely
how developments will affect ASEAN's policy on the East Sea issue.
3. ASEAN's Policy Towards the East Sea Issue:
Examining from the analysis of the five major elements of ASEAN's position on the East Sea can
see the comments of ASEAN in the past two years for the East Sea situation ‘s
generally positive trend, but that positive nature should continue to be
reinforced, more consensus in both present and future. For example, after the
situation in the East Sea in 2017 is tense, ASEAN's remarks on the East Sea in
2018 continue to be more straightforward and complex. ASEAN should uphold the
spirit of unity, unified view of the East Sea. Therefore, the demand for
non-militarization and self-restraint, to maintain a peaceful and stable
environment is always the view of ASEAN, which is also a strong signal.
In addition to analyzing the above, we can also find the evolution of ASEAN's view of the East
Sea from the change in the order of major
factors in the system of factors in ASEAN's position on East Sea. The
Declaration of ASEAN Chair 28-29 began with deep concern over the situation in
the East Sea, stressed the importance in preserving peace and stability in the
East Sea, then make recommendations to act, stating the urgency of implementing
the DOC and negotiate the COC, the two measures to be taken soon as the hotline
between the diplomats and the rules for handling collisions unintended where the sea was ranked last. Concern for the
East Sea situation is only ranked third, the East Sea order is ranked first,
second is the early solution, the last one is the action proposal. The 31st
ASEAN Presidency's remarks refer first to the improvement of ASEAN-China
relations and to the negotiation of the COC, followed by the welcome
implementation of the early measures, then reiterated the importance of
maintaining order in the East Sea, finally make recommendations for action. The
Declaration of the 32nd ASEAN Chairmen first mentioned the importance of
maintaining the South Sea Order, followed by the progressive negotiation of the
COC and the solution was made early, then expressed concern about the situation
in the East Sea, finally reminding the motion for action.
From that point of view, in addition to the Declaration by
the ASEAN Chair on 28-29 2016, the remaining three ASEAN Chairmen 's
Declarations also highlight ASEAN' s concerns about the situation in the East
Sea to the first position of the contents in discussion and statement. But these
documents emphasize the importance of protecting the environment of peace and
stability in the East Sea and promote negotiations COC. Therefore,
environmental protection and peace in the East Sea’re to
promote common COC negotiation
of ASEAN and China on the East Sea should be further discussed and seriously
implemented in practice.
4. ASEAN's Consistent Policy
Toward the East Sea Issue:
The
Chairman's statement showed ASEAN's consistency in the East Sea issue. The ASEAN member countries wanted an East Sea peace and stability, all
disagreements conflict of sovereignty island must be resolved by peaceful
means, based on the system of international law, international marine law and provisions of UNCLOS. Through the ASEAN
Chairman's statement of 28 to 31 courses showed an expression of consistency
important about the views of ASEAN on East Sea issue.
Comprehensive respect of the
ASEAN countries for the legal process and diplomacy is the general view of the
ASEAN member countries in this context such as Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore,and Vietnam. ASEAN
has also affirmed its deep concern over the recent and present situation in the
East Sea, including the change of status and militarization of the East Sea.
Most ASEAN members are welcome legal process and diplomacy in resolving East
Sea issue.
5. Conclusion
The
most important in early decades of the XXI century, ASEAN has an increasingly
common policy towards the East Sea issue, which’s to ensure freedom of
navigation aviation in the East Sea, any conflicts over a conflict over sovereignty over islands should be
resolved by peaceful means. Stakeholders must respect international law, apply the international
maritime law, UNCLOS to delimit the sea, resolve maritime sovereignty disputes,
at the same time, they oppose the military actions of the East Sea, which
affect the peace and stability of the East Sea, the region and the world./.
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