ID :
196600
Fri, 07/22/2011 - 18:59
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http://m.oananews.org//node/196600
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UPDATE1: EAS pushes for progress on N. Korea, maritime security rules+
OANA_NEWS
UPDATE1: EAS pushes for progress on N. Korea, maritime security rules+
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, July 22 Kyodo -
(EDS: ADDING DETAILS THROUGHOUT)
Foreign ministers of the East Asia Summit member countries called Friday for progress toward denuclearizing North Korea following high-level inter-Korean talks that took place the same day in Bali, Indonesia, Japanese officials said.
The 16 EAS members and the United States and Russia, which will formally join the regional body at its summit in Indonesia in November, also sought adherence to basic rules on maritime security to defuse tension between China and some Southeast Asian countries over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, they said.
The EAS gathering was held a day after China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations endorsed just-concluded guidelines to govern behavior in disputed areas of the South China Sea.
On the sidelines of the EAS meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, the chief nuclear envoys of South and North Korea met in an effort to resume the six-party talks on the North's nuclear ambitions.
Following the meeting between Wi Sung Lac, South Korea's chief envoy to the six-party talks, and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, some EAS members stressed the need to restart the talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, the officials said.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who chaired the EAS meeting, welcomed the inter-Korean high-level talks, telling a press conference, ''The fact that the two Koreas met at the official level and at the senior official level should not be underestimated.''
''It is important because if we try, we can create a fresh momentum for peaceful resolution and addressing the matter of the Korean Peninsula,'' Natalegawa said.
The six-way nuclear talks -- involving the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia -- have been stalled since December 2008.
Some EAS members also expressed hope that the new China-ASEAN guidelines will help improve the situation in the South China Sea, where China and countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines are embroiled in territorial rows, according to the officials.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto proposed that EAS members set up a forum involving not only government officials but also academic experts to discuss maritime issues. His idea was generally supported by other ministers, Japanese officials said.
Matsumoto told reporters that EAS members concurred on the importance of abiding by international laws, freedom of navigation and peaceful settlement of maritime conflicts.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also hailed the China-ASEAN agreement on the guidelines to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which policymakers and analysts hope will help build confidence and reduce tension among countries with rival claims to island chains in the area.
With the agreement, ASEAN nations are poised to prod China to start talks to establish a legally binding code of conduct to ensure the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan that Beijing will ''actively cooperate with ASEAN in the drafting of the Code of Conduct,'' according to the secretariat of the regional entity.
The South China Sea, which contains some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, has island chains located above what are believed to be rich deposits of oil and gas and which are claimed in whole by China, Taiwan and Vietnam and in part by Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The EAS currently comprises the 10 ASEAN countries plus Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
==Kyodo
2011-07-22 23:38:41
UPDATE1: EAS pushes for progress on N. Korea, maritime security rules+
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, July 22 Kyodo -
(EDS: ADDING DETAILS THROUGHOUT)
Foreign ministers of the East Asia Summit member countries called Friday for progress toward denuclearizing North Korea following high-level inter-Korean talks that took place the same day in Bali, Indonesia, Japanese officials said.
The 16 EAS members and the United States and Russia, which will formally join the regional body at its summit in Indonesia in November, also sought adherence to basic rules on maritime security to defuse tension between China and some Southeast Asian countries over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, they said.
The EAS gathering was held a day after China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations endorsed just-concluded guidelines to govern behavior in disputed areas of the South China Sea.
On the sidelines of the EAS meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, the chief nuclear envoys of South and North Korea met in an effort to resume the six-party talks on the North's nuclear ambitions.
Following the meeting between Wi Sung Lac, South Korea's chief envoy to the six-party talks, and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, some EAS members stressed the need to restart the talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, the officials said.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who chaired the EAS meeting, welcomed the inter-Korean high-level talks, telling a press conference, ''The fact that the two Koreas met at the official level and at the senior official level should not be underestimated.''
''It is important because if we try, we can create a fresh momentum for peaceful resolution and addressing the matter of the Korean Peninsula,'' Natalegawa said.
The six-way nuclear talks -- involving the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia -- have been stalled since December 2008.
Some EAS members also expressed hope that the new China-ASEAN guidelines will help improve the situation in the South China Sea, where China and countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines are embroiled in territorial rows, according to the officials.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto proposed that EAS members set up a forum involving not only government officials but also academic experts to discuss maritime issues. His idea was generally supported by other ministers, Japanese officials said.
Matsumoto told reporters that EAS members concurred on the importance of abiding by international laws, freedom of navigation and peaceful settlement of maritime conflicts.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also hailed the China-ASEAN agreement on the guidelines to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which policymakers and analysts hope will help build confidence and reduce tension among countries with rival claims to island chains in the area.
With the agreement, ASEAN nations are poised to prod China to start talks to establish a legally binding code of conduct to ensure the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan that Beijing will ''actively cooperate with ASEAN in the drafting of the Code of Conduct,'' according to the secretariat of the regional entity.
The South China Sea, which contains some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, has island chains located above what are believed to be rich deposits of oil and gas and which are claimed in whole by China, Taiwan and Vietnam and in part by Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The EAS currently comprises the 10 ASEAN countries plus Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
==Kyodo
2011-07-22 23:38:41
