Foreign ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, as well as the European Union (EU) High Representative jointly expressed their concern on “unilateral actions, such as large-scale land reclamation, which change the status quo and increase tensions” in the South China Sea.
In their first ever Declaration on Maritime Security, the Group of (G7) ministers of foreign affairs, without pointing any accusing fingers but obviously alluding to China, also expressed their strong opposition to “any attempt to assert territorial or maritime claims through the use of intimidation, coercion or force.”
“We call on all states to pursue the peaceful management or settlement of maritime disputes in accordance with international law, including through internationally recognized legal dispute settlement mechanisms, and to fully implement any decisions rendered by the relevant courts and tribunals which are binding on them,”
The foreign ministers of the seven wealthiest developed nations and the EU High Representative emphasized further the need for claimant states to avoid unilateral actions “that cause permanent physical change to the marine environment in areas pending final delimitation.”
In the same Declaration, which was adopted earlier this week in the Hanseatic City of Lübeck in northern Germany, the G7 foreign ministers likewise called for the acceleration of work on a comprehensive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (CoC). In the meantime, as a stopgap measure, they emphasized their support for the 2002 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
Manila Bulletin
