BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 29 Kyodo ...

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 29 Kyodo

Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are likely to have the intention to China a blueprint for helping dissolve territorial rows in the southerly China Sea, a draft document showed Monday.

They will at hand the draft to China later this week one time they finalize the document during their sum of two units days of talks that started here Monday.

more [i]or[/i] less ASEAN countries and China, along with Taiwan, have lengthy been quarreling over sovereignty above parts of the South China Sea, believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits, especially the Spratly archipelago.

The draft, a original of which was made available to Kyodo recently made knowns on Monday, points to the ne for the parties touched to ''undertake to reduce their territorial and jurisdictional disputes on peaceful means.''

It also calls onward all the parties to solicit the resolution of the files ''without resorting to the threat or use of force, by the and of friendly consultations and negotiations by the agency of sovereign states directly concerned''

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

ASEAN countries are trying hard to strike a delicate balance between those wanting a legally binding ''code of conduct'' for managing the disputes and Malaysia, which has campaigned for a nonbinding ''declaration.''

''Declaring is a highly clear statement on how the parties guidance themselves with respect to the southerly China Sea. So I think it is an important political statement or commitment politically from all the countries concerned'' Malaysian Foreign Minister Sy Hamid Albar said told reporters Monday.

on the contrary some countries are still insisting the title of the document contain ''code of conduct'' as sought by way of ASEAN leaders at their summit in 1999

Reflecting the conflicting views within the grouping, the draft insinuates two optional titles -- ''Code of escort in the South China Sea'' and ''Declaration upon the Conduct of Parties in the southern China Sea.''

The name of the document aside, ASEAN has apparently shifted its stance upon the scope of the envisaged blueprint between ASEAN and China athwart the South China Sea.

The draft makes no mention of the geographical object of the document, instead of clearly stating it should overlay the Spratlys or the Paracels or the pair for example.

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

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

China, which relies more and more heavily forward crude oil and gas imports to firing its breakneck economic growth, initially insisted that the disputes be addressed bilaterally, if it were not that later agreed to begin talks on an agreement with ASEAN.

Vietnam, which claims the Chinese-held Paracel Islands, had in the past insisted the ASEAN-China declaration specify those islands as an area concealed by the document, but other ASEAN members did not arise to its support when China ball that idea down. Vietnam is the solitary country claiming the Paracel Islands other than China.

To bring territorial and jurisdictional disputes to a peaceful liquidation the draft lists such specific actions as ''ensuring just and humane treatment of nationals of other parties disturbed who are either in danger or in distress'' and ''notifying, forward a voluntary basis, other parties interested of any impending joint military exercise.''

Looking ahead, the draft also voices chance of the desired end that various joint activities can be embarked forward in order to achieve a ''comprehensive and durable'' resolution of the disputes.

They could include like activities as maritime environmental protection, marine scientific research, safety of navigation and communication at sea, search and deliverance operations and combating transnational crime.

ASEAN clumps Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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