2nd International Conference on the East Sea in Malaysia

ASEAN and China need to be ready to bridge the gap in understanding the strategic environment as well as legal mechanisms.

The 2nd International Conference on the East Sea organized by the Malaysian Institute of Marine Studies (MIMA) took place on September 4-5 in Kuala Lumpur, attracting the participation of nearly 150 scholars, researchers, and diplomats from 20 countries around the world, including Vietnam.

With the theme "Geostrategic Developments and Prospects for Dispute Management," the conference focused on six main sections, including the East Sea dispute and its impact on the security environment in the Asia-Pacific region, assessment of the current geopolitical situation in the East Sea, international law, dispute settlement mechanisms, long-term solutions, and group discussions on dispute settlement directions.

In his opening remarks, MIMA Director, Vice Rear Admiral Ahmad Ramli, stressed the strategic and economic importance of the South China Sea to coastal states and the international community.

He said that territorial disputes and overlapping sovereignty claims are the cause of tension, threatening to lead to conflict and threatening peace, stability and solidarity among interested parties in the region.

The tensions and diverse interests in the South China Sea region require disputants and stakeholders to exercise utmost restraint and seek legal and diplomatic channels to resolve disputes peacefully.

This requires adherence to international law, high-level diplomatic skills, strong political will, and continued support from the research community for ideas and strategies that can help ease the situation or even overcome the conflicting interests of the parties involved.

At the conference, scholars and research experts from Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, the US, China, Japan, Australia, Singapore and Vietnam presented papers, shared information and made specific proposals and measures to control and manage sovereignty disputes in the East Sea in the context of geopolitical fluctuations in the region.

Delegates also focused on discussing the development of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), saying that this is the right time for ASEAN and China to discuss with each other to soon complete this code.

Delegates highly appreciated the role of ASEAN, saying that ASEAN has gone in the right direction in promoting the development of the COC. The draft on the basic elements of the COC that ASEAN has achieved is basically on the right track and consistent with the current situation and reality of disputes occurring in the East Sea.

In his speech, Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Hung Son proposed areas of cooperation between ASEAN and China as well as relevant parties to help stabilize the region, including providing additional guidance to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC); starting dialogue on drafting the COC; engaging in dialogue and cooperation to promote common understanding of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS-1982) and achieving harmony in its application and implementation; encouraging bilateral relations, helping to manage the general situation, including territorial disputes.

According to Mr. Son, these are the foundations for managing the situation in the East Sea, but ASEAN and China need to be ready to narrow the gap in understanding the strategic environment as well as legal mechanisms to promote effective cooperation./.

According to VNA-M