VN promotes ASEAN-China peace partners

BANGKOK (VNS)— Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh affirmed the importance of the ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity at a two-day retreat attended by senior officials from both sides in Pattaya, Thailand that would wrap up today.

Addressing the ASEAN-China Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) Retreat, Vinh emphasised the importance of effectively implementing cooperation activities within the framework of the ASEAN-China Plan of Action in the 2011-15 period. These activities include fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and looking towards a Code of Conduct (COC).

Regarding the East Sea, the senior diplomat said that ensuring peace, stability, maritime security and safety in the East Sea would have a critical effect on the regional situation.

Concerned parties should strengthen cooperation and build trust based on respecting international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982), he said, adding that they also needed to fully and effectively implement the DOC and ASEAN's six-point principle on the East Sea.

Vinh stressed, "As the drafting of the COC is in the common interest of both ASEAN and China as well as the whole region, the parties should soon start negotiations on the document. This would ensure peaceful resolution for disputes and conform to international law and UNCLOS 1982, particularly the provisions on respecting continental shelves and exclusive economic zones of coastal nations."

In this process, ASEAN should play a central role in ensuring regional peace, security and common development, he noted.

At the retreat, ASEAN and China discussed measures to strengthen their relations as well as preparations for the ASEAN-China Summit to be held in Cambodia next month. — VNS