Southeast Asian leaders said a 1982 UN ocean treaty should be the foundation of sovereign rights in the South China Sea, in one of their strongest comments opposing China’s claim by virtually all waters in dispute for historical reasons.
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) took office in a statement issued by Vietnam on behalf of the 10-country bloc on Saturday. ASEAN leaders held their annual video call summit on Friday, with the coronavirus pandemic and long-standing territorial disputes on the agenda.
The ASEAN statement said: “We reaffirm that the UNCLOS of 1982 is the basis for determining maritime rights, sovereign rights, jurisdiction and legitimate interests over maritime zones.”
The leaders were referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a 1982 international agreement that defines countries’ rights to the world’s oceans. It also delimits stretches of water called exclusive economic zones where coastal states have the right to take exclusive advantage of fishing and fuel resources.
The leaders said in the statement that “UNCLOS establishes the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.”
Chinese authorities did not immediately comment on the statement. Three Southeast Asian diplomats told the AP, however, that it marked a significant strengthening of the regional bloc’s rule of law assertion in a disputed region long considered an Asian hot spot. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authority to speak in public.
As Asean’s leader for 2020, Vietnam oversaw the drafting of the president’s statement. This was not a negotiated document, but was circulated among other Member States for consultation. Vietnam has been one of the most vocal critics of China’s assertive actions in the disputed waters.
China has taken increasingly aggressive measures to reinforce its claims on strategic waters. He loosely marks them with a “nine-line” that overlaps with the coastal waters and territorial claims of ASEAN member states Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei. Taiwan has also filed a claim in vast stretches of the disputed waters.
In July 2016, an international arbitration court overturned China’s vast historical claims to waters based on UNCLOS. China declined to participate in the case and dismissed the ruling as a sham.
In recent years, China transformed seven contested reefs into missile-protected island bases, including three with military-grade runways. It continues to develop them in ways that have sparked protests and alarmed rival plaintiff states, as well as the United States and its Asian and Western allies.
In recent months, China has come under fire for what rival plaintiffs said were aggressive actions in the disputed waters as countries struggled to cope with the coronavirus crisis.
Vietnam protested in April after a Chinese Coast Guard boat rammed and sank a boat with eight fishermen off the Paracel Islands. The Philippines supported Vietnam and protested against the new territorial districts announced by China in large swaths of the sea.
.
