Six Southeast Asian countries have joined the Philippines in calling for a peaceful resolution and the use of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in resolving disputes over some areas in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea. Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Singapore arrived at the consensus during the 21st Meeting of States Parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea from June 13 to 17 at the UN headquarters in New York, reports from Manila said Sunday. The reports said the Philippine permanent mission to the UN in New York also voiced during the meeting the country's rejection of the inclusion of areas within Philippine jurisdiction in the dispute. The six countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stressed the need to maintain peace and security in the region. ASEAN has 10 members. The three other members are Cambodia, Brunei and Myanmar. “The rule of law is the bedrock of peace, order and fairness in modern societies. The rise of a rules-based international system has been the great equalizer in global affairs,” a statement from the Philippine mission read. The Philippines issued the statement after accusing China of encroaching and building structures on atolls claimed by Manila to be within its territorial waters under international law. The disputed area, claimed wholly by China and partly by at least five Southeast Asian countries, is believed to be sitting on untapped natural gas and other resources and has been described as a potential powder keg in the region owing to the conflicting claims. The Philippines appears to have a good case in seeking an appeal to the Chinese government to stop building structures in atolls like the Kalayaan group which Manila said are “clearly within the sovereignty and/or jurisdiction of the Philippines” under international law. If Manila's accusation that China has been building structures on the Kalayaan group of atolls that are very close to Philippines' Palawan island, it should stop doing so in keeping with previous agreements that no provocative actions related to the claims should be taken while the disputes have not been resolved. China, which has risen to become a second biggest world economy after the United States, has been engaged in confidence-building in Africa, South Asia and other parts of the globe and any move that would project it as a neighborhood bully would undermine all those efforts. __
