MANILA, Philippines -- Foreign ministers of six Asian countries are expected to issue a joint statement warning against the use of violence to resolve the territorial dispute over the oil-rich Spratly Islands, officials said Monday.
A draft joint communique to be released during talks this week by foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations urges a 'code of international behavior' be established for disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands.
The statement warns violence anywhere in the South China Sea could 'directly affect the peace and security' throughout the region.
The 25th ministerial meeting of ASEAN, which opens Tuesday, is expected to concentrate on evolving regional security concerns brought on by the end of the Cold War, including growing territorial disputes.
Meanwhile, Vietnam reaffirmed its claim to the Spratly Islands and urged the five other nations claiming ownership of the archipelago not to take any action that might complicate a settlement of the dispute.
'Our point of view toward the Spratlys is clear already,' Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam told reporters in Bangkok, Thailand, after a meeting with Thai Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun. 'Only Vietnam has a right to decide on exploration and exploitation of this area.'
Cam arrived in Bangkok Sunday enroute to Manila for the six-day ASEAN meeting.Vietnam is attending the conference as a guest.
'While a settlement of the (Spratlys) dispute is pending, it is important that no country does anything to complicate it.' Cam said. 'Peace and stability will serve the interests of not only one country but all.'
Hanoi issued a protest to Beijing earlier this month after Chinese troops planted a territorial marker on a reef in the islands.
Vietnam and China fought a brief naval battle over the Spratlys in 1988, which left 77 Vietnamese sailors dead and two of Hanoi's patrol boats at the bottom of the sea. Chinese casualties, if any, are unknown.
The draft communique, prepared by senior officials of the ASEAN countries, calls for nations involved in territorial disputes in the South China Sea to adopt the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia as 'the basis for establishing a code of international behavior over the area.'
The 1976 treaty calls on ASEAN countries to settle differences throughpeaceful cooperation.
Asian diplomats said much discussion during the talks would concentrate on the disputed Spratlys, a group of 1,000-odd islets and sandbars in the South China Sea about 500 miles west of Manila.
The Spratlys are believed to sit atop vast oil and gas reserves and for years have been a source of occasional tension among China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, each of whom claims all or part of the islands.
China in February passed a law declaring the Spratlys part of its territory. It later signed a contract with a U.S. oil company to explore waters around the islands, in moves rekindling the dispute.
The eight-page draft refers to the Spratlys several times but never mentions the disputed island chain by name.
A final version of the communique is expected to be released Wednesday at the end of talks between the six ASEAN nations, which include the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.
The ASEAN foreign ministers have invited their counterparts from the United States, Japan, Russia, China, Vietnam and other nations to participate in further talks, which run through Sunday.
In the communique, ASEAN ministers also say environmental and human rights concerns should not be a factor in economic and development cooperation.
Moves by several major donors to place environmental or human rights restrictions on economic aid have raised the ire of developing countries, who argue such restrictions trespass on their sovereignty.
They expressed support for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia and concern over reports of the Khmer Rouge violating the peace accord.
