The Foreign Ministers Retreat held in Burma (Myanmar), which ended last Jan. 17, was the first of a series of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) meetings under Burma’s Asean chairmanship. This meeting was important because it discussed China’s imposition of a controversial fisheries law that requires all foreign vessels to first seek approval from Chinese authorities before they fish or do survey activities in the disputed islands/seas China has laid claim to.
China has recently imposed an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, and this was condemned by the Philippines and neighboring countries and the United States. In the recently concluded meeting, the ministers highlighted the importance of peace, prosperity and security in the region, urging all parties to resolve disputes through peaceful means, and in accordance with all binding laws of the sea. The ministers are forging a united stand against China’s “adventurism” or “territorial grabs,” which they will never accept.
The Philippines has rejected China’s offer to meet halfway on the Chinese fisheries law, saying it is one of the unilateral measures being adopted by Beijing so it can expand and assert sovereignty over the South China Sea. China should make another offer but, this time, it should do so with all sincerity, having in mind the objective of true peace and security in the Asean, not territorial expansion.
—J. ARTHUR MARTINEZ,
martinezj.arthur@yahoo.com