"CEAC Commentary" introduces news analyses andopinions in Japan on the concept of an East AsianCommunity, but they do not represent the views ofCEAC as an institution.
August 31, 2010

Two Salient Developments at the 17th ARF
By ISHIGAKI Yasuji
The 17th Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was convened in Hanoi on 23 July2010 with participation of the representatives from 26 countries and EU on ministerial level,
including ASEAN+3 countries, the United States, Russia, North Korea, all with keen and vested
interests in political and security matters in East Asia. At that meeting, several significant moves
and developments were observed with regard to the current situation and future prospect ofsecurity in the region. Pak Ui‐Chun, Foreign Minister of North Korea, who attended theMeeting for the first time in two years, had arrived many days earlier in Hanoi, and worked
hard so that the discussions over the issue of the sinking of a South Korean warship would beconducted to the best advantage of North Korea, and also to make the Six‐Party Talks restarted
with lifting of the sanctions against North Korea. As it turned out, the Chairman’s Statement
adopted at the end of the Meeting mentioned no direct involvement of North Korea, just as she
so desired.

In my view, the above ARF Meeting was in particular worthy of noting on the following
two points. First, it was declared in the final Chairman’s Statement that the participating
Ministers adopted the Ha Noi Plan of Action to implement the ARF Vision Statement, whichcontained policy guidance for the ARF to develop and implement concrete and practical actions
toward the year 2020. The previous ARF meetings had focused on dialogues and cooperation
concerning important issues of political and security nature in East Asia. However, the above
Chairman’s Statement clarified that the ARF remains the primary forum to discuss political andsecurity issues in the region and supported ASEANʹs role as the driving force in the ARF
process, and stated that the Ministers reiterated support for ASEANʹs central role in the existingregional mechanisms as well as in evolving regional architectures. Besides, it defined clearly therelationship between a new forum of ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM‐Plus)and ARF by stating that the envisaged ADMM Plus will complement the work of the ARF.
ADDM‐PLUS is to be inaugurated in coming October this year with the participation of ASEAN+ 8 countries including Japan, China, Korea, United States, and Russia.

Secondly, it was apparent that a heated discussion took place at the meeting amongsuch countries as Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei on one hand and China on the other,over recent increased China’s naval activities and resource exploration in the South China Sea.
The above‐mentioned ASEAN countries, which have individually territorial claims over theislands in the South China Sea, and hold growing concerns over recent Chinese activities in thearea, seized the ARF Meeting as a good opportunity to bring the matter to attention of othercountries so as to “multilateralize” the issue. In response to such a move, China reacted strongly,
arguing that those matters were bilateral issues to be settled directly with the concernedcountries.

After all, Vietnam, the host country, managed well to have the final text of Chairman’sStatement negotiated and adopted at very late hours of the closing session of the Meeting,stating that the participating Ministers reaffirmed the continuing importance of the Declarationon the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) of 2002, embodying their collective
commitment to the promotion of confidence‐building measures in this area, and encouraging
further efforts towards the eventual conclusion of a Regional Code of Conduct in the South
China Sea (COC). This added phrase might be regarded as strengthening the assertion of theASEAN countries concerned.

Furthermore, it was noteworthy that under those circumstances, US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton is said to have indicated at a press conference in Ha Noi that, while the UnitedStates does not take any position in favor of particular country over the territorial dispute in theSouth China Sea, the U.S. shares interest with ASEAN member states, stressing that the freedomof the seas, guaranteed by United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, must not
restricted in any case.
(This is the English translation of an article written by Mr. ISHIGAKI Yasuji, Delegate forJapan to AALCO and former Professor of Tokai University, as his personal view which
originally appeared on the BBS “Hyakka‐Somei” of CEAC on August 1, 2010.)