23/09/2013
The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) is aware of the sensitivity of the South China Sea issue, and therefore refrained from passing resolutions which may hinder the executive branch of respective member governments to carry out negotiations between Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam.
The standpoint was made clear yesterday by President of the 34th AIPA General Assembly and Brunei Darussalam Legislative Council (LegCo) Speaker Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Bakti Diraja Dato Laila Utama Hj Isa Pehin Datu Perdana Manteri Dato Laila Utama Hj Ibrahim in a press conference following the conclusion of the five-day general assembly.
Responding to a question which touched on the South China Sea issue, YB Pehin Dato Hj Isa said: "The position taken is that the resolutions of conflicting territorial claims in the sea concerned must be done in such a way which urges claimants to comply with the conditions laid down by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)."
"While we are conscious of the importance of these claims, we are also aware that any inflammatory statements by parliamentarians may create problems for those who are directly involved in the negotiations," he added.
Read more at The Brunei Times
Click here for updated South China Sea news
In the past few years, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) has been expanding its activities in the South China Sea in particular and the Indo-Pacific in general.
On July 5, a week before hosting the 2023 NATO Summit, Lithuania released its own Indo-Pacific Strategy, becoming the 6th European country to devise such document (after France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and the Czech Republic, if not including the EU). A few observations could be made from a...
On the 7th anniversary of the final ruling rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal in the arbitration between the Philippines and China concerning the South China Sea (July 12, 2016 - July 12, 2023), some countries, including claimants and non-claimants, issued statements expressing their positions regarding...
On 28 April, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) issued its final Judgment on the dispute concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, finally ending the dispute that had lasted for over three years. Both Mauritius...
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu officially visited Russia from April 15th to April 17th, 2023. The visit was closely monitored by the West due to their belief that the increasingly closer relationship between China and Russia, both politically and militarily, may result in China’s decision to provide...
---Copy.png&w=200)
