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本帖最后由 lilyma06 于 2011-11-21 11:38 编辑
South China Sea tangle to top East Asia Summit
Indrani Bagchi, TNN | Nov 18, 2011, 02.53AM IST
原文链接：http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/South-China-Sea-tangle-to-top-East-Asia-Summit/articleshow/10774728.cms
BALI: As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh touched down here on Thursday evening for the ASEAN and East Asia summits, it is clear the South China Sea issue will feature prominently in the discussions over the next couple of days.
In his departure statement, the PM said, "Political and security issues are becoming part of the East Asia Summit agenda. There are concerns among the countries of the region over issues relating to disaster management, maritime security, terrorism and other non-traditional threats to security."
The summit this year will see two new members, US and Russia. The entry of these two into the East Asia process is the biggest sign that the countries in the region are hedging their bets against a rising and possibly aggressive China.
The Americans, who are now shifting their focus to the Pacific theatre post withdrawal from Iraq and a drawdown in Afghanistan, will want to drive the agenda of the EAS. President Barack Obama is coming to the EAS from the APEC summit in Hawaii, signing a strategic agreement with Philippines and expanding the US military footprint in Australia -- all signs that the US wants a bigger presence in Asia.
The US will be pushing a more rigid architecture of security cooperation in the region. And everybody else is hedging their bets. India will play a "watch" game for the time being. Officials pointed out that India has increasing interests in South China Sea. Not only does India get a fair amount of oil from Sakhalin, Russia through this route, about 40% of Indian goods bound for the US west coast travel through these seas.
The PM will meet Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday, two keenly-watched events. This will be his first meeting with Obama after the president's visit to India last November. By putting out rules of the civil nuclear liability just before his meeting, the PM might want to indicate that the government is still on track with the nuclear brief, and not trying to keep US companies out of the Indian nuclear market.
Government sources said that though maritime security featured in regional forums like the ARF and ADMM+8 (ASEAN defence ministers meeting), there was increasing interest in making it part of the East Asia Summit as well. Japan too is interested in setting up a maritime forum for the purpose.
India supports freedom of navigation of high seas and sea lanes, a position it has clarified recently as a result of minor face-offs with China over Indian presence in the South China Sea. In July, an Indian ship, INS Airavat, making a goodwill visit to Vietnam was "buzzed" by the Chinese in South China Sea, a disembodied voice on the radio asserting Chinese territorial claims. When it was revealed that the Chinese had objected to Indian oil drilling off Vietnam, India openly rejected the Chinese point of view to assert the freedom of navigation principle.
However, official sources said India would not weigh in on the territorial issue in this part of the world. China would like to settle the issue bilaterally, but others have decided to take it up at regional forums, hoping to prevent a confrontation with China. Sources here said any of the countries could have gone to the UN under the law of the seas to assert their claim or take issue with China, but no one has done so.
Instead, at this year's ARF, the East and Southeast Asian countries worked out a code of conduct on the seas. Chinese navy has been accused of damaging Vietnamese oil ships, taking Philippines boats into custody and generally making a nuisance of itself in the South China Sea in recent months.
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发表于 2011-11-18 09:46
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发表于 2011-11-18 11:47
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