Vietnam backs Phl's multilateral approach to Spratlys row
By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated April 09, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (3)

MANILA, Philippines - Vietnam, one of six claimants to the Spratly Islands, has categorically supported Philippines’ proposal for a multilateral approach to the territorial problem, by way of resolving it through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Quoting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Prime Minister Tan Dung made the declaration during last week’s 20th ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
During the summit, President Aquino proposed to his fellow heads of state that ASEAN countries, particularly claimants to the potentially oil-rich islands, should settle the issue first among themselves before China can be invited for the discussions.
“When it was the turn of Vietnam to speak, Prime Minister Tan Dung stated that ASEAN should rush the drafting of the elements of the code of conduct after which China can be invited to discuss the COC,” Lacierda related.
He said that, “in essence, Vietnam supported the Philippines’ position.”

Vietnam's P.M. Nguyeen Tan Dung at the 20th ASEAN Summit in PnomPenh

“There cannot be a bilateral solution to a multilateral problem,” Aquino reiterated to reporters in a sit-down interview at Sofitel Hotel in the Cambodian capital, where he was billeted for his two-day stay for the ASEAN summit.
Other than the Philippines and China, those with claims to the reportedly mineral-rich Spratlys include Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan.
Beijing prefers a bilateral approach to the problem, but stressed it was open to such a setup. It promised to “abide” by the collective action of the ASEAN with regard to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties and COC in the South China Sea.
China made the assurance in a joint statement it issued along with the Kingdom of Cambodia during the 20th ASEAN summit, where it also expressed support for the creation of a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation (ZoPFFC).
“China and ASEAN countries shall work hard to serve practical cooperation, maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, and make it a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation for China and ASEAN countries,” the two countries declared.
Likewise, both parties “agreed” that China and ASEAN countries “ shall continue to abide by the purpose and spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.”
Beijing and Phnom Penh also vowed to “give full play to all existing mechanisms including the guidelines for the implementation of the DOC, facilitate its full implementation, and ensure the success of the workshop on the 10th anniversary of the signing of the DOC.”
Philippine Permanent Representative to the ASEAN Wilfrido Villacorta earlier said ASEAN leaders were very receptive to the Philippines’ proposal for a “multilateral” approach in dealing with China on the Spratly issue.
“I can say in general that there was no strong opposition to that, at most they just kept quiet. Remember, you are talking here about 10 member-states with different forms of government,” he told reporters in a briefing.
Lacierda downplayed speculations that Beijing might retaliate on other fronts, like the economy, by cutting or reducing trade agreements with Manila.
“We don’t believe it will have an effect. This is just a continuation of what the President has always said about the West Philippine Sea. China knows it,” he explained further.
Lacierda was with Aquino when he was invited for a state visit in Beijing in August 2011.
Villacorta agreed, saying China will understand. “It’s not hostility. China is reasonable also with regard to negotiations procedure. We have this territorial claim, but we are not an unfriendly country,” he said.
“If only for the (ASEAN plenary) session, the Philippines scored points. You should be proud as Filipinos,” he added.
The Philippines also expressed willingness to host a meeting among the six claimants to the Spratly Islands, including China, to arrive at a peaceful solution to the dispute.
President Aquino stressed this at the Retreat Session of the 20th ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh last week, the Department of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement posted on its website. – Christina Mendez

East Sea solution:To remove the "cow tongue" first

By Tran Kinh Nghi-Independent researcher 

It is somehow strange that  the world has been consuming so much effort and time, and even bloodshed in case of Vietnam yet to find a solution to the conflict of  East Sea (internationally known as South China Sea). It is even more strange that this issue only appeared since 2009 when Beijing suddenly announced its nine-knotted line looking like the tongue of the cow) only basing on random sketch by a general under the Chang Kai-shek's regime. As a matter of fact this line was never known to public before and is not substituted with any latitudes or longitudes. 

Maybe, Beijing  assumes itself that China is  now strong enough to carry out their dream of expansion and domination of the East Sea (?). However, people wonder if any reason for such a vague line to exist without any  legal ground could have any "effect" by internal norm? Or how could the Chinese hegemonism  be once more successful with their acrobatic magic of  "turning nothing into something"? 

Chinese coast gaurd vesels contantly ramping and harussing  Vietnamese fishing boats

If any country has the right to draw its borderlines  on the sea like the ​​Chinese does, the British could draw their borders into a long tongue to get ragged islands of Portland down the Southern Latin America; and borders of  the U.S.A.could cover most of the Pacific;  Australia and New Zealand could share ownership of the South Pacific and Antarctica ; and many other countries could have the right to do so here and there. If any country could take historical footprints of ships sailing across certain waters to claim "ownership" of a sea , then the Mongols could claim sovereignty over the East China Sea and down to the northern spots in the East Sea. So, one can not imagine what will happen to peace, security and stability of the world, especially along international sea-routes, if every national states would do so arbitrarily on a global scale. 


























If any state could just draw itself  some vague dashed lines without any data of magnitudes or landmarks and claims it's "core interest" , then what will happen to the world at large? The way of claiming  territory like that only happens in the wildlife, and now  it happens with the case of China drawing its line in the East Sea! The ambiguous boundaries encompassing the East Sea, most of which infringe upon the continental shelf, territorial waters and entire exclusive economic zones of other littoral states. Even if the islands and rocks being occupied by Chinese forces in the middle of the Sea, by  international law and practice, are not at all eligible to claim sovereignty over the waters around. But the danger is that  Beijing allows it self to implement the so-called sovereign right over the region by acts of war  directly violating  vital interests of it's neighboring states- the first victims are Vietnam and the Philippines. China has been repeatedly threatening to attack these two countries. In many cases the Chinese navy solders  in civilian cloth act like gangsters and sea pirates looting and harassing thousands Vietnamese fishermen.  


In short, no one else but China is actually causing risk of hot war in this region. So, the international community should better not take time to discuss solutions while the Chinese had insistently denied any multilateral solution. Let's  first of all request Beijing to officially renounce its unjustified dashed line. People of  the littoral states and other relating parties of interests in the East Sea never accept such monopolist claim of China. Any lingering schemes or  stubbornness from the Chinese side  shall only detrimental  the interests of other stakeholders and of itself alone. /.

The Dragon's New Teeth

http://www.economist.com/node/21552193?frsc=dg%7Ca

China again 'buying time'

Illustration: The absurd "cow tongue" 

Official newspapers of  Vietnam and China these days are reporting contents of the deal reached after deputy minister-level bilateral talks that took place in Beijing in two days of  27 and 28 of February . At the first glance, the new agreement seems normal with frequent nice words such as "thoroughly implement  the agreed common understanding of the leadership of the two countries", "deep cooperation", "fair treatment" , "to continue  developing  stable, healthy bilateral relations for the benefit of the two peoples, for peace, stability and regional cooperation and the world at large ", and so on and so forth. But reading it more closely one would find it  unusual. The Youth Newspaper on February 29 issue providing most complete information about the deal in paragraphs:  "According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two sides agreed to set up  working groups at department level  to negotiate the division waters in  the Gulf of Tonkin. Sino-Vietnam working groups at department level are to be set up for cooperation in less sensitive areas on the sea, including environmental protection, marine scientific research, search, salvage and rescue and prevention, minimizing damages caused by natural disasters ... and start hot lines between the two foreign ministries to exchange timely, adequate handling matters arising from the sea. "There are two notable phrases: "identifying waters in the Tonkin Gulf "; and " less-sensitive areas on the sea" . They bear the meaning that the East Sea issues are  absolutely excluded from the deal.  Reading through the entire contents of the agreement one can see  only merely that, without a word about  Spratly, Paracel and  not even  words like "fishing", "overlapping regions"," exclusive economic zone " and so on which are the categories constantly violated by Chinese forces against Vietnam! These "missing" contents in such a written bilateral agreement at presence are very remarkable. It is a big  "PAUSE"sign (if not a step backwards) comparing with the whole so-called "process of  bilateral solution of the East Sea" which China has been boasting about.The contents of this agreement does not reflect the developments since late 2011 now. It is the busy traffic of leaders from the two countries with the sequence of events from a visit to China by Secretary General  Nguyen Phu Trong of Vietnam last October when the two sides signed The basic principle direction for solving  issues of the sea "; followed by the visit of the future leader Xi Jinping of China to Vietnam in December, and dozens of visits back and forth at various senior officials. It is the international public opinion that China is being spurred by the increased presence of U.S. military in Asia-Pacific region while not only Vietnam but the ASEAN countries also have begun to guard against the overwhelming dominance of  the  northern neighboring giant of China. And these make the Chinese feel worry  to change;  one of the changes might be to chose  Vietnam- a close neighbors and having same socialist ideology to compromise and thereby set an example  for the world's peace of mind (!). And it is the less aggressive presence of the Chinese forces on the East Sea. These movements, like it or not,  has raised doubts detrimental to Vietnam among ASEAN and international public opinion.This argument is not groundless, as China is welknown with  the theory of "white cat, black cat as long as it catches mice", and the leaders of this country had even give  up their rigid guidelines in the cultural revolution to change to the pragmatic compromise of Shanghai in 1972 with the United States! Moreover, in the eyes of Americans and many people having no common borders with China, the Chinese civilization is so respectable to cover all the tricks of the leading circles of this country. There is even an U.S. experts who wonders about ability to achieve a demarcation line based on the median line between the coast of Hainan Island and Central Vietnam to cut across the Paracel Islands to the west surrendered for Vietnam (!) (See more here: http://trankinhnghi.blogspot.com/2012/01/toan-tinh-trung-viet-tai-bien-ong.html). It was really a sweet illusion, isn't it ?But such optimism has now that completely lost if we look at the contents of the above said agreement. It is quite easy to guess that Vietnamese negotiators this time were subjected to tremendous pressure to have to sign such so modest deal with nothing new in it. Because they are people who know that it is  not reasonable at all  for the two sides to resume negotiations only on the Tonkin Gulf while the hot spots of conflict are  located in the East Sea. And they are people who know clearer than anyone else that "Chinese friends" had  caused problems along the border formed during the French and Manchu time, and then requested Vietnam to negotiate during dozen years still for losses. And now the Chinese are doing the same again only with the waters in the Tonkin Gulf. This means: Wait, it is still a very long way to a solution of  the East Sea issues!In summary, we can say with this new agreement, the chances of so-called "bilateral Sino-Vietnamese solution of the  East Sea" has been geared at 0. This once more shows how the Chinese are skillful with their tricks of "look at the east, beat in the west" to have been virtually causing misunderstanding and showing rifts among  ASEAN countries and the world opinion . With that trick the Chinese mean to play with the time and prolong waiting for an opportunity, but never compromise with anyone. The opportunity for them is when they gain an absolute power, including elimination of the risk of U.S. intervention, in the East Sea. That is why they have been aggressively speeding up the arms-race with a huge defense budget reportedly  from  119.8 billion dollars 2011 to  238 billion dollars by 2015, with an average speed of 18.75 % / year.Once China is "strong enough" it will certainly not need to use any labelled negotiations no matter whether bilateral or multilateral. This is a lesson that Vietnam needs to learn so as to identify an appropriate and realistic policy, and not to fall into the enemy's trap again. /.