JERUDONG: Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel warned fellow defence ministers yesterday that growing maritime incidents and tensions in disputed Asian waters increase the risk of a dangerous international confrontation.
Hagel and his counterparts from Southeast Asia, China and six other countries wrapped up two days of talks in Brunei that took place as the United States prepares for an expected military strike against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons.
China has faced increasing accusations of bullying in asserting its claim to nearly the whole of the South China Sea, parts of which are claimed by several Southeast Asian countries.
Elsewhere, Tokyo and Beijing have played cat and mouse in the East China Sea over disputed islands. Japan earlier this week scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese government plane approached airspace Japan claims as it own. The US defence secretary warned his counterparts in Brunei that actions at sea to advance territorial claims “increase the risk of confrontation, undermine regional stability, and dim the prospects for diplomacy”, according to a prepared text of his remarks.
“All the countries are concerned that a more aggressive pursuit of claims could provoke a conflict,” a senior US defence official added.
Some ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) proposed practical steps to avert conflict, including setting up a hotline between Asean states and China, measures to avoid collisions and an agreement on “no first use of force”, US officials said. But the main diplomatic effort has centred on calls for a “code of conduct” for the South China Sea, a binding set of rules for a waterway believed to hold significant oil and gas deposits.
The US has pressed the idea, which is also strongly supported by Asean as a whole.
Agencies
