Experts comment on East Sea negotiations

During a roundtable discussion in Pasig City (Philippines), this expert said she would lean towards a “mini-multilateral” mechanism instead of including all ASEAN member countries in dialogue with China on the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC).

ASEAN-China Summit in Manila. Photo: AP

Ms. Baviera shared: “ASEAN still plays an important role in certain issues, but how does ASEAN view the East Sea issue? This is a China-ASEAN issue, as long as ASEAN is concerned.” According to expert Baviera, the maritime dispute only involves China and some ASEAN member countries.

Negotiations on a legally binding code of conduct have been ongoing since the mid-1990s, but little progress has been made, even after the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) was adopted in 2002, Ms. Baviera said.

Since then, the regional atmosphere has changed and the issues that countries sought to address through the code are no longer the top security concerns in the South China Sea.

“Everything that China does in the South China Sea is driven by its own perception of what the United States is doing… It is no longer practical to continue doing the same things, because these things have been proven to fail in the past. I believe it is the failure of multilateralism, and the weakness of the architecture that causes these problems,” Ms. Baviera pointed out.

While China and ASEAN negotiate the COC, Beijing and Manila also conduct a bilateral consultation mechanism on the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, Professor Ben Schreer of Macquarie University (Australia) criticized the way China continues to turn the East Sea into its "lake".

Professor Screer said that the world needs to consider the East Sea dispute as a “large maritime theater” that involves many other regions of Asia.

Lan Ha