“This is China’s internal problem”?
On the second business day of the International Scientific Conference on the South China Sea, speakers took time to discuss risk management, prevention of maritime collision risks, and cooperation on resource protection. sea.
Here, the speakers mentioned the fact that in recent times there have been many unfortunate clashes between the forces of order of the neighboring countries, especially in the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of the neighboring countries. coastal water. Some marine scientific research activities, which exploit countries’ resources in their own waters of coastal countries, are often harassed.
The risk of a maritime collision in the near future is increasing due to increased competition between major countries. Therefore, academics have recommended measures to avoid conflicts and reduce risks, especially by strictly complying with UNCLOS 1982, adhering to international treaties and agreements to minimize the aforementioned risks. sea…
Since 2016, China and ASEAN have issued a joint statement on the Rules for the Prevention of Conflict at Sea (CUES). However, to date CUES remains a voluntary code and only applies to naval forces. Therefore, the Australian academic proposed to expand the scope of the application of CUES to both maritime police forces and civil order forces at sea.
One hot topic being tackled on the topic of avoiding clashes at sea is the Chinese Coast Guard bill, which may include provisions that allow Chinese law enforcement to use force in the region. This sea of water claims.
This bill has caused great concern not only for the countries of the region, but also for the countries that use the East Sea and the East China Sea, because the implementation of the bill will threaten lives and property. fishermen’s countries, hindering freedom of navigation through the East Sea area.
Although the Chinese academic who participated in the seminar explained that this is an internal problem of China and China has always followed a traditional policy of friendship with neighboring countries on the issue of the South China Sea, many Indian scholars Japan and Southeast Asia continued expressing concern about the bill as China did not clarify the area of the sea where the bill was applied, as well as the criteria for allowing the Chinese Coast Guard to use force. .
Although some coastal countries also allow the Coast Guard to use weapons in certain situations, China’s bill raises concern due to its arbitrary behavior towards fishermen and boats. ship countries last time.
Cooperation in protecting the marine environment can reduce stress and help build trust
In terms of fisheries, protection of the marine environment, marine scientific research and sustainable marine economic development, participants also said that these are areas that need attention from countries. As these are potential, effective and effective areas of cooperation, it demonstrates the goodwill of other countries to reduce tension and contribute to the process of building trust in the region.
At the same time, cooperation in these fields also contributes to meeting the common interests of the peoples of the region in terms of environmental protection, sustainable development … However, when it comes to promoting cooperation in all fields. As mentioned above, the participants said that they encountered many difficulties when proposing projects in the field, and at the same time, many sensitive factors appeared in the cooperation process such as geographical location, organizational mechanism, Finance and human resources …
In addition, several ASEAN partner countries have recently proposed ideas and initiatives on “Blue Sea Economy” cooperation with ASEAN, making it difficult to avoid overlaps and complications between these initiatives. Delegates proposed seeking measures to synchronize these initiatives, including building multilateral maritime cooperation mechanisms within ASEAN and between ASEAN and partner countries to promote maritime cooperation.
