Korean Peninsula worries to top S. China Sea disputes at security forum+ By Puy Kea BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, June 30 Kyodo - Growing concern over tensions on the Korean Peninsula will push disputes among several ASEAN members and China in the South China Sea from the top of the agenda at this year’s ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei, an ASEAN diplomatic source has told Kyodo News. Since 2010, when Vietnam was host and chair of annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings, China’s aggressive stance in the South China issue had always been the most pressing security issue facing foreign ministers from ASEAN, the United States, China and Japan and a dozen other countries. Last year in Phnom Penh, the ASEAN ministers failed to issue a joint communique for the first time in 45 years as members in favour of Chinese largesse clashed with those who see China as a growing threat to their sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea. “No one wants to repeat the lesson learned in Phnom Penh that embarrassed ASEAN. Thus pressure cannot be put on other member states or we will see the repetition of last year’s debacle,” the diplomat said, referring to too much demands from the Philippines and Vietnam. On the other hand, the visits of Chinese leaders in Cambodia prior to the ASEAN meetings were not faming well but painted with the impression that Beijing is putting pressure on Cambodia and at which it would be weird for Cambodia to turn it away. At a dinner held in Brunei’s capital on the eve of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting that began Sunday, Brunei Foreign Minister Mohamed Bolkiah said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and others, will be more focused on the Korean Peninsula at the 20th ARF in which ministers or their deputies from 27 states will participate. The diplomat said Brunei, host and chair of ASEAN and ASEAN-related meetings this year, has lobbied those with disputes in the South China to tone down the rhetoric on the South China Sea, adding that confrontations in the areas have eased somewhat since the meetings last year. And with the United States likely to be more interested in getting some action to stop North Korea’s nuclear arms programs focus will inevitably be on a gathering where top-level representatives of all six members of stalled talks aimed at ending a North Korean nuclear threat are in the same room. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said of the ARF, ”We are not part of the six-party talks, but I hope we can encourage them to meet. It would be wonderful if they can take advantage of the fact that they are all here. If we do not take any action then we definitely are not going to make progress.” North Korea, which is to be represented by Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun at the ARF, has already said it wants the United States and other countries to end “hostile” policies against Pyongyang. But many on the other side of the Korean nuclear question want ”real action” by North Korea to end its nuclear ambitions before they ease their pressure on the country. Having violated U.N. Security Council resolutions with a long-range launch and a third nuclear weapon test this year, it appears unlikely Pak will see much movement in his favor from the 26 other ARF members. The ARF members are the 10 ASEAN states -- Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, Brunei and Myanmar -- dialogue partners Bangladesh, China, Canada, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, India, the United States and the European Union. ==Kyodo
Posted on: Mon, 01 Jul 2013 05:19:43 +0000
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