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2nd LD Writethru: Cambodia's ruling party urges parties directly concerned in South China Sea issue to negotiate with each other

Xinhua, June 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen's ruling party on Wednesday called on the parties directly concerned in the South China Sea issue to resolve their disputes through peaceful negotiations.

"The Cambodian People's Party (CPP) insists that all 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 the 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 issue 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 disputes, which was unilaterally launched 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.

Hun Sen said at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh on Monday 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.

Hun Sen also urged all parties concerned to resolve their differences through bilateral negotiations and appealed to the outsiders not to meddle in the issues.

The Chinese government has reiterated its non-acceptance and non-participation stance in the case.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its statement issued on June 8 that China has all along stood for peacefully settling territorial and maritime delimitation disputes through negotiations with states directly concerned on the basis of respecting historical facts and in accordance with the International law.

On issues concerning territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation, China never accepts any recourse to third party settlement, or any means of dispute settlement that is imposed on it, the statement said. Endit