BANGKOK, Oct 30 Kyodo Thai Foreig...

BANGKOK, Oct 30 Kyodo

Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Wednesday the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will sign a declaration with China at an ASEAN-China summit in Phnom Penh in succession Monday that is intended to disentangle territorial disputes in the toward the south China Sea.

Surakiart told a recently made knowns conference that he has been informed about ongoing consultations among ASEAN senior officials that ''are remarkably much likely to melt a small issue concerning non-claimant states.''

He said non-claimant states would be allowed to explore and to undertake cooperative activities in the area.

Surakiart said the declaration to be signed according to ASEAN and Chinese leaders would be a proper sign for peace and stability in the region as it would reaffirm their commitment to the freedom of navigation in the toward the south China Sea, preventing the escalation of conflicts that may arise from erecting compositions in the area and cooperating in maritime research instead.

According to the latest draft of the ''Declaration forward the Conduct of Parties in the southward China Sea,'' ASEAN countries and China state that they ''may explore or undertake cooperative activities including marine environment protection and scientific research, safety of navigation and communication at sea, search and redemption operation and combating transnational crime.''

He added China has agreed to sign the declaration nearest Monday at the ASEAN-China gathering in the Cambodian capital.

The agreement, which has been worked forward 1999, is said to exhibit the ''political will'' of ASEAN and China to a peaceful liquidation of the problem through cooperation and to stop a reoccurrence of military disputes in the potentially resource-rich area.

Several ASEAN countries and China, along with Taiwan, have prolonged been disputing the sovereignty throughout parts of the South China Sea believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits, especially the Spratlys archipelago.

The latest draft points revealed the need for the parties to ''undertake to unravel their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by dint of peaceful means.''

It also calls upon all parties to seek resolution of riots ''without resorting to the threat or use of force, in consequence of friendly consultations and negotiations according to sovereign states directly concerned''

Furthermore, the draft declaration anticipates the parties to ''exercise self-restraint in the guidance of activities that would complicate disputes and affect peace and stability...and to handle their differences in a constructive manner.''

It clearly states the parties should refrain from ''action of inhabiting or erecting constitution on the presently uninhabited islands, take ins shoals, cays, and other features.''

The 1,000-kilometer Spratlys have been a potential flash point in the region with rival navies patrolling the disputed areas and countries as it is as China and Malaysia building arrangements atop some rocky shoals.

In 1995 China built complex satellite-equipped structures on Philippine-claimed Mischief take in heightening tensions in the area. The Philippines declare ed the occupation but to no avail.

To bring territorial and jurisdictional disputes to a peaceful liquidation the draft declaration lists in the same state [i]or[/i] condition specific actions as ''ensuring just and humane treatment of nationals of other parties affected who are either in danger or in distress'' and ''notifying, upon a voluntary basis, other parties belong toed of any impending joint military exercise.''

on the declaration, ASEAN and China would also commit themselves to holding dialogue and exchanging views between their defense and military officials, and exchanging relevant information forward a voluntary basis, according to the latest draft.

China, which relies more and more heavily in succession crude oil and gas imports to combustibles its economic growth, initially insisted the disputes be addressed bilaterally, still it later agreed to talks forward an agreement with ASEAN.

In late July ASEAN foreign ministers flattened to end years of stalemate with China from one side of to the other the complicated sovereignty dispute through proposing changing the name of the agreement from a binding ''Code of Conduct'' to a nonbinding ''declaration,'' as campaigned on Malaysia.

However, the latest draft stipulates that ASEAN and China will continue to work towards adoption of a ''Code of Conduct''

China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines claim either all or parts of the Spratlys.

The Spratlys issue remains a major security touch for ASEAN, and a potential source of conflict in the Asia-Pacific region.

Of the six claimants, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are ASEAN members. ASEAN also includes Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.

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