VietNamNet Bridge - After the division in 2012, ASEAN members have allied for common goals. Now the bloc is again challenged by the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea) dispute. VietNamNet would like to present an article by Mr. Dimas Muhamad, who works for the Policy Analysis and Development Agency, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
By Dimas Muhamad
When we talk about the 2012 ASEAN Summit, some are fixated on ASEAN’s failure to hammer out a unified communiqué for the first time in its history. What they gloss over is the fact that not longer after the summit, with Indonesia’s tenacious shuttle diplomacy, ASEAN Foreign Ministers set aside their differences and adopted a joint statement.
It stipulates that ASEAN Foreign Ministers reaffirm the commitment to six-point principles, the last of which is “the peaceful resolution of disputes [in the East Sea] in accordance with the universally recognized principles of international law including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS)” (1).
Again, that unity will be put to the test as the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration will announce the awards of arbitration between the Philippines and China over the East Sea on July 12th.
After the 2012 fissure, ASEAN members rallied together for common cause. Four years later, with the imminent arbitration verdicts, will ASEAN step up to the plate once more?
There are reasons to be skeptical. The regional organization is increasingly seen by some to be fractured over the East Sea dispute. Aside from the infamous 2012 ASEAN Summit, a few weeks ago ASEAN encountered another pandemonium in the ASEAN-China Special Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
At the meeting, the ASEAN Statement on East Sea was abruptly retracted as some members were allegedly pressured by China to shoot it down.
This time around, ASEAN cannot afford more discord. ASEAN must get its act together. Of course it is perfectly normal for ASEAN members to have differences, after all only four members are claimants while the other six have much less skin in the game. However, ASEAN members cannot let their differences overshadow their shared core interest, to maintain peace and stability in the region.
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