Teodoro to raise South China Sea and Thailand-Cambodia disputes in ASEAN meetings

MANILA — Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who is leading the 20th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ meeting in Cebu on Wednesday, said that the issue of the South China Sea would be part of discussions. 

In his opening remarks for the meeting, Teodoro said that the dispute in the South China Sea should be settled through “peaceful and legal means.”

“Our strength lies in diversity. We should not allow our differences to divide us from within,” he said.  

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, a vital global trade route, despite an international ruling that its claims have no legal basis. 

Southeast Asian nations have long sought to reach a code of conduct (CoC) with China for the waterway.

Despite a series of fresh clashes between China and the Philippines in recent months, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro said in July that she believed both sides were focused on concluding the long-gestating agreement by years’ end.

As chair of the defense meetings, Teodoro added that he push for “a peaceful and durable solution to the current situation” of Cambodia and Thailand.  

He said the Philippines would participate in the process “with due regard to sensitivities to all concerned”.

Cambodia and Thailand have for decades pushed rival claims over a swath of the Gulf of Thailand with undersea energy reserves worth $300 billion and the demarcation of their 800-kilometer land border.

Cambodia sought international conciliation in June after Thailand pulled out of their 2001 agreement to exploit offshore oil and gas resources in a 27,000-square-kilometre (10,400-square-mile) chunk of maritime territory to which both nations lay claim.

Their border disputes erupted into fighting last year that killed dozens of people. Each side has accused the other of violating a ceasefire agreement signed in December.

This month, the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague said the two governments had accepted “to engage constructively in the conciliation process”.

The ADMM meeting will continue until Thursday with observers from other countries such as the United States, Australia, India, among others.