DFA to propose 'enclaving' of disputed areas in South China Sea

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has prepared a proposal to ‘enclave’ disputed areas in the South China Sea and separate them from those parts not in dispute. The proposal comes as the ASEAN Maritime Legal Experts’ Meeting convenes Thursday in Manila to take up the Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation (ZoPFF/C), which the Philippines presented at the ASEAN Regional Forum last August in Bali, Indonesia. “(E)nclaving will literally operationalize the ‘shelving of territorial disputes’ and pave the way for effective and meaningful cooperation among the claimant countries in the West Philippine Sea (or) South China Sea," the DFA proposal said. “Maritime legal experts from the ten Member States of ASEAN — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — will meet to discuss the Philippine proposal for ZoPFF/C in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea)," the DFA said in a statement Thursday. The DFA noted that the meeting stemmed from “the decision of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers at the 44th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) in Bali for the ASEAN Senior Officials to study the proposal with the assistance of maritime legal experts." Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario had explained during the ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum) in Bali that the first option in a segregation process “will have to be vetted by the ASEAN maritime legal experts." The experts’ meeting will be at the Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City. “Its findings will be reported to the ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting (ASEAN SOM), which will then make recommendations for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers to consider before the 19th ASEAN Summit in November 2011 in Bali," the DFA said. — ELR/VS, GMA News