Parties involved should de-escalate recent South China Sea tensions: Ng Eng Hen
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In recent months, there were several maritime incidents involving Beijing and Manila around a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
PHOTO: AFP
BEIJING – Parties involved should de-escalate tensions in the South China Sea, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, after a series of maritime incidents between China and the Philippines raised temperatures over a longstanding territorial dispute.
Efforts that could ease tensions include a fisheries agreement, he said, noting the contest over resources such as fish and hydrocarbon reserves in the waterway.
Negotiations over a binding code of conduct (COC) to manage the South China Sea issue should also be expedited so that parties involved can agree on a common framework, Dr Ng told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday, when asked about the recent maritime incidents.
In recent months, there were several maritime incidents involving Beijing and Manila around a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
Analysts have warned of a clash because of miscalculations.
“The South China Sea can be a cause, a precipitant for conflict, but it’s not an intractable problem if there is political will, because basically you’re fighting over resources,” Dr Ng said.
“The sovereignty (issue), you will never settle,” he added, explaining that parties that have occupied the island features in the disputed waterway currently are likely to continue occupying them.
Dr Ng wrapped up a four-day trip to China on Wednesday, after he attended the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum
China and several Asean member states have long-running disputes over their overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea.
In July, Beijing and the regional grouping agreed on guidelines to speed up negotiations on the COC,
While Singapore is not a claimant state, it has an interest in the stability of the South China Sea, said Dr Ng, adding that his call for de-escalation is to avoid a conflict in Asia at all costs.
Once such a conflict occurs, the price would be too high to pay, he stressed.
“So let’s stay very far away from the danger lines and not come close to treacherous waters, as it were.”
In the latest incident in the disputed waterway, China’s military said on Monday that a Philippine warship had “illegally intruded” into waters
The Philippines responded that it had “every right” to conduct routine patrols in its exclusive economic zone in the West Philippines Sea.
In October, vessels belonging to China and the Philippines collided
Manila has troops stationed at a military outpost on the atoll to assert its sovereignty claims.
A month before that, the Philippines removed a floating barrier installed by China
