Cambodian PM Backs China’s Call to Settle South China Sea Dispute in Bilateral Talks

nsnbc : Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Monday that Cambodia will not support the upcoming ruling over territorial disputes in the South China Sea by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and that Cambodia supports China’s call to settle the disputes through bilateral negotiations.

Hun Sen_Cambodia_Cambodian PM_2016The statement comes amidst growing tensions in the region and as a ruling on the issue is expected within a month. In 2013 the Philippines unilaterally brought territorial disputes in the South China Sea before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen implied the Court’s anti-Chinese bias, saying that the upcoming ruling would be politically motivated and that Cambodia would not support the Court’s decision.

Implicitly referring to the United States, the Prime Minister referred to “a powerful country that had sent its ambassadors to ASEAN leaders to support a yet-to-be-released decision. Hun Sen noted:

“It seems that there is a badly political conspiracy between some countries and the arbitral tribunal because the decision is not yet delivered, but they have launched a movement to seek support for the tribunal’s upcoming decision”.

He added that “that country’s ambassador to Cambodia” proposed to him that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should speak with one voice and issue a unanimous statement in support of the upcoming ruling. Hun Sen stressed that Cambodia will issue its own statement, independent from ASEAN. He added:

“I would like to declare Cambodia’s stance that Cambodia will not issue any joint statement in support of the arbitral tribunal’s decision. … I appeal to countries concerned in the disputes to negotiate with each other. … ASEAN cannot measure land for any sides. … I’d like to appeal to countries outside the region not to meddle in the issue of South China Sea. … I hope that the new president of the Philippines will be easy with China.”

In the mid-1990s China and the Philippines agreed on settling their disputes in the South China Sea through negotiation. This has been reaffirmed in several other bilateral documents since then, including the joint statement the two countries issued in September 2011. China claims that the Permanent Court of Arbitration has no jurisdiction over the dispute. Many experts in international law, however, do disagree with China’s position.

China notes, among others, that territorial issues are beyond the scope of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). China also notes that it has excluded maritime delimitation from compulsory arbitration in a declaration it made in 2006 in accordance with Article 298 of UNCLOS. Therefore, China has made it clear it will not accept or get involved in those proceedings, maintains Beijing.

All of the above bilateral agreements cited by Beijing have, however, been signed before China began its so-called “land reclamation” and island building program in the South China Sea. The agreements were also signed before the marked increase in the number of Chinese fishing flotillas, protected by Chinese Coast Guard vessels, that infringe on the fishing grounds in the waters of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam.

In all fairness, it is also worth noting that China’s fortification of South China Sea islands and atolls began after the administration of “that powerful country” as Hun Sen described the USA, announced its “Pivot to Asia” policy.

CH/L – nsnbc 21.06.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/06/21/cambodian-pm-backs-chinas-call-to-settle-south-china-sea-dispute-in-bilateral-talks/

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