Phnom Penh (FN), June 22, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen’s ruling party on Wednesday called on the parties directly concerned in the South China Sea disputes to resolve their differences through peaceful negotiations.
“The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) insists that parties concerned exercise self-restraint, do not use force or threaten to use force on the issues of South China Sea in order to give possibility to parties directly concerned to negotiate with each other based on the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC),” said a CPP’s statement.
The statement also rejected the unjust allegations that Cambodia had spoiled a recent ASEAN joint statement on the South China Sea in China’s Kunming and a joint statement in Cambodia’s Phnom Penh in 2012.
“In contrast, Cambodia has played a good role in mediating the South China Sea issues in order to maintain solidarity and harmony in ASEAN-China relations. Moreover, the South China Sea issues are not the issues between ASEAN and China,” it said.
The CPP voiced its support for Hun Sen’s remarks on Monday that did not back the arbitral tribunal’s upcoming decision over the South China Sea, which was unilaterally initiated by the Philippines.
“Cambodia will not join in issuing any statement that supports the arbitral tribunal’s ruling related to the dispute in the South China Sea,” the statement said.
In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with respect to the two sides' disputes in the South China Sea. A decision will be pronounced in upcoming period.
China has declared that it will neither accept nor participate in the arbitration initiated by the Philippines, saying the arbitration violates the basic principles of international law and undermines the integrity and authority of the UN Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS), and it has no right to adjudicate on the case as in 2006.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh on Monday, Hun Sen said that the arbitral tribunal’s upcoming decision is “politically motivated” and Cambodia will not support the decision.
“It seems that there is a badly political conspiracy between some countries and the arbitral tribunal because the decision is not yet delivered, but they have launched a movement to seek support for the tribunal’s upcoming decision,” he said, referring to a powerful country which had sent its ambassadors to lobby ASEAN leaders to support the yet-to-be-released decision.
The prime minister urged all parties directly concerned to resolve their differences through bilateral negotiations and appealed to the outsiders not to meddle in the issues.
