A rude Manila helps no one

This week's series of meetings held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh have been successful in cementing partnerships both inside and outside the region and bringing the bloc one step closer toward its goal of building an ASEAN community in 2015.

It is essential that all ASEAN members rally around the goals set in the meetings so that the good momentum of regional cooperation and integration can be maintained. But the dissonance in Phnom Penh meetings should also remind the 10-member bloc of the urgency and necessity of peaceful negotiations and dialogues when differences and disputes over some sensitive regional issues arise.

Disregarding the cooperative atmosphere among East Asian countries, a few countries, including the Philippines, once again attempted to play up the disputes over the South China Sea.

When Cambodia, this year's ASEAN chair, said at a meeting on Monday that the bloc had agreed not to "internationalize" the rifts, it was very rude of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to interrupt and rebuke Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, alleging that no such consensus had been reached and he would continue to speak out on the global stage.

Aquino's undiplomatic move was ill-advised, and will not help solve the issue in peace. It was also unwise of the Philippine Foreign Ministry to say on Wednesday that it will sponsor a meeting of some claimant countries next month.

Manila should know that "not to internationalize the South China Sea issue" is one of the fundamentals written in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which was reached 10 years ago by China and ASEAN countries including the Philippines.

Since the row over Huangyan Island between China and the Philippines in April, the South China Sea has by and large remained peaceful and calm. China and relevant countries have held two rounds of talks to pave the way for crafting a legally binding code of conduct in the South China Sea.

Nothing is more obvious than the region cherishes a common wish not to allow the South China Sea issue to cloud ASEAN-China ties or the larger picture of regional cooperation.

Hence, countries like the Philippines need to realize which way the wind blows so as not to miscalculate the situation and make misjudgments. The wiser choice for these countries is to stick to the right track so that the conditions for relevant countries to sit down and discuss a code of conduct can ripen earlier.

(China Daily 11/23/2012 page8)