ASEAN works to resolve sea reserves issue

NUSA DUA, Indonesia, July 19 (UPI) -- Southeast Asian ministers at a summit in Indonesia worked to resolve conflicting claims of oil and gas reserves in the South China Sea, officials said.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged delegates at the Nusa Dua meeting Tuesday to finalize guidelines between Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China on this issue, Voice of America reported.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that while ASEAN considers the guidelines as the best way to resolve the dispute, some members are considering other options, such as making development in the disputed area a cooperative venture.

"One concept that has been mentioned is the idea of some kind of zone for the region that is marked by peace and by freedom and by cooperation," Natalegawa said.

China and Taiwan claim nearly all of the South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam exert claims on parts close to their shores. The dispute has occasionally flared into violence during the past four decades, and in recent months Manila and Hanoi complained of Chinese vessels encroaching on their territory, VOA said.

The Philippine government indicated it wants to take the dispute to the U.N. International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, but Natalegawa said such an attempt could be difficult.

Natalegawa said all parties must agree to go before the U.N. court, adding, "I am not sure whether ... both the Philippines and China -- and maybe even others involved -- already agreed to that path."