A series of important issues for regional security have been discussed at the eighth Assembly Conference of Council for Security Cooperation in Asia-Pacific in Hanoi.
Themed “Dangers and Dilemmas: Will the New Regional Security Architecture Help?”, the Nov. 21-22 event drew 300 domestic and international scholars to discuss regional issues relating to nuclear, navigation, water resource and cyber security, ASEAN-China relations, people’s protection responsibility, Korean peninsula issue and efficiency of regional security architecture.
On nuclear security, the delegates said the nuclear weapon countries should take main responsibility in promoting a world of non-nuclear weapons, seeking measures for cooperation and trust-building among themselves in order to reach transitional solutions toward a non-nuclear weapon world.
They emphasised the need to increase cooperation between developed countries and developing nations with nuclear development needs for peaceful purposes to enhance the latter’s capacity and ensure regional and international criteria on nuclear security and safety.
Regarding maritime security, the participants hailed the recent ASEAN Summit’s resolve to fully implement the Declaration on Conducts of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and warm up negotiations on the COC.
The conference also highly valued Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s announcement of willingness to hold dialogue on the issue with ASEAN.
Many participants stressed the key role of maritime security for security in the whole region, saying that a binding Code of Conduct is necessary to ensure sea security for the whole region, including the East Sea .
Water resource security was a topic drawing special attention from the scholars, who described it as one of biggest challenges for Asia in the coming time due to the large population, low per-capita water reserves, high economic growth and fast urbanisation speed.
They pointed to the region’s limitations such as lack of coordination mechanism in sharing river water resources, construction of dams on rivers upstream threatening water resource security in lower basin countries.
Regarding the evolving regional security architecture, they pointed out four major characteristics, namely US-led alliances, multilateral mechanisms with ASEAN at the core, bilateral security agreements and China ’s emergence. Therefore, ASEAN needs to avoid confrontation between the US and China in the region and bring into full play its role as a forum for parties to discuss regional security issues, building confidence between the parties.
In her speech on the 20-year old ASEAN-China ties, Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Tong Xiaoling stressed the ties’ rapid development in recent years on economic, financial, cultural and transport areas.
China will always develop peaceful relations with ASEAN countries, respect basic principles in the ties on the spirit of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) signed by both China and ASEAN, she said.
She affirmed China will solve disputes with ASEAN through peaceful measures and reaffirmed the country’s resolve to fully implement the DOC and warm up negotiations on the COC with ASEAN.
At the event, US Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear delivered a speech on US policies amidst the changing circumstances in the region, affirming the US Government’s commitments to the Asia-Pacific region as well as the US ’s presence in the region for common security and development of all regional nations.
He mentioned the rapid development of the relations between the US and Vietnam , saying that the US Government wants to promote strategic partnership with Vietnam. /.
Themed “Dangers and Dilemmas: Will the New Regional Security Architecture Help?”, the Nov. 21-22 event drew 300 domestic and international scholars to discuss regional issues relating to nuclear, navigation, water resource and cyber security, ASEAN-China relations, people’s protection responsibility, Korean peninsula issue and efficiency of regional security architecture.
On nuclear security, the delegates said the nuclear weapon countries should take main responsibility in promoting a world of non-nuclear weapons, seeking measures for cooperation and trust-building among themselves in order to reach transitional solutions toward a non-nuclear weapon world.
They emphasised the need to increase cooperation between developed countries and developing nations with nuclear development needs for peaceful purposes to enhance the latter’s capacity and ensure regional and international criteria on nuclear security and safety.
Regarding maritime security, the participants hailed the recent ASEAN Summit’s resolve to fully implement the Declaration on Conducts of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and warm up negotiations on the COC.
The conference also highly valued Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s announcement of willingness to hold dialogue on the issue with ASEAN.
Many participants stressed the key role of maritime security for security in the whole region, saying that a binding Code of Conduct is necessary to ensure sea security for the whole region, including the East Sea .
Water resource security was a topic drawing special attention from the scholars, who described it as one of biggest challenges for Asia in the coming time due to the large population, low per-capita water reserves, high economic growth and fast urbanisation speed.
They pointed to the region’s limitations such as lack of coordination mechanism in sharing river water resources, construction of dams on rivers upstream threatening water resource security in lower basin countries.
Regarding the evolving regional security architecture, they pointed out four major characteristics, namely US-led alliances, multilateral mechanisms with ASEAN at the core, bilateral security agreements and China ’s emergence. Therefore, ASEAN needs to avoid confrontation between the US and China in the region and bring into full play its role as a forum for parties to discuss regional security issues, building confidence between the parties.
In her speech on the 20-year old ASEAN-China ties, Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Tong Xiaoling stressed the ties’ rapid development in recent years on economic, financial, cultural and transport areas.
China will always develop peaceful relations with ASEAN countries, respect basic principles in the ties on the spirit of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) signed by both China and ASEAN, she said.
She affirmed China will solve disputes with ASEAN through peaceful measures and reaffirmed the country’s resolve to fully implement the DOC and warm up negotiations on the COC with ASEAN.
At the event, US Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear delivered a speech on US policies amidst the changing circumstances in the region, affirming the US Government’s commitments to the Asia-Pacific region as well as the US ’s presence in the region for common security and development of all regional nations.
He mentioned the rapid development of the relations between the US and Vietnam , saying that the US Government wants to promote strategic partnership with Vietnam. /.
