The commander of the US Navy Seventh Fleet called on Southeast Asian nations to form a combined maritime force to patrol areas of the South China Sea where territorial tensions flare with China.
Countries could streamline cooperation on maritime security while respecting sovereignty and coastal space, as in the case of counter-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden, Vice Adm Robert Thomas said Tuesday at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia.
The US has reassured allies in the region it will back them against China's assertions to about four-fifths of the sea. China has ratcheted up pressure on some Association of Southeast Asian Nations members, and has accelerated reclamation work on reefs in the waters criss-crossed by claims from Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, the Philippines and Malaysia.
"Perhaps easier said than done, from both a policy and organisation perspective, such an initiative could help crystallise the operational objectives in the training events that Asean navies want to pursue," Vice Adm Thomas said at a panel session with navy chiefs. "If Asean members were to take the lead in organising something along those lines, trust me, the US Seventh Fleet would be ready to support."
A crewman from the Vietnamese coastguard ship 8003 looks out at sea as Chinese coastguard vessels give chase to Vietnamese ships that came close to the Haiyang Shiyou 981, known in Vietnam as HD-981, oil rig in the South China Sea in this July 15 file photo. (Reuters photo)
India, Japan
Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in an interview on March 16 that his country would welcome India playing a greater role in the South China Sea. In January, Vice Adm Thomas said the US would encourage an extension of Japanese air patrols into the area. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott signed an agreement today to host Vietnam forces for training.
Both countries "support freedom of navigation by air and by sea in the South China Sea, we both deplore any unilateral change to the status quo," he said in Canberra.
At Langkawi, the US is exhibiting two F/A-18F Super Hornets, a P-8A Poseidon maritime-patrol aircraft, as well as the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh equipped with a MH-60R helicopter. The scale of the US delegation to the show held every two years underscores its increased focus on the region.
"There's a lot of competition I would say in the South China Sea, but for the United States our goal is just peaceful resolution of any conflict," said Capt John Enfield, a deputy navy commander who flies one of the F/A-18F Super Hornets. "The US doesn't get dragged" into a discussion about resources, he said in an interview.
China agreed to talks with Asean on a code of conduct for the South China Sea in July 2013, but little progress has been made. The government in Beijing signed a non-binding declaration of conduct in 2002, which calls on parties to refrain from "inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays and other features."
The maritime force is "a nice idea, but it'll never be anything meaningful," said Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
A protester gestures as he marches during an anti-China protest in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City May 18. Vietnam had flooded major cities with police to avert anti-China protests over sovereignty in the South China Sea. (Reuters photo)
"Creating interoperability will be a nightmare; you need common communications equipment, intelligence-sharing agreements," he said. "Above all, you need a common threat perception."
Asean has consistently called for parties to show restraint on the South China Sea and preserve freedom of navigation. The 10-member bloc has avoided singling out China, its largest trading partner.
In May last year, rioters damaged Chinese businesses and factories in Vietnam after China parked an oil-exploration rig in contested waters near the Paracel Islands. China warned of a hit to trade and investment ties unless the protests were halted. Several months later it withdrew the rig.
Asean nations are consistently occupied with managing conflicting boundary claims in the South China Sea, Malaysia Defence Minister Hussein Hishammuddin said Tuesday. This remains a major obstacle to upholding Asean's zone of peace, freedom and neutrality, he said.