On
South China
Sea, Experts
Deem UN
Irrelevant,
Consumed with
Syria,
LOST
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
30 -- When two
experts on the
South China
Sea dispute
spoke and took
questions for
an hour on
Monday, for
the first
forty
minutes the
words "United
Nations" arose
only once, as
the
beginning of
the phrase
"Law of the
Sea Treaty,"
or LOST.
Inner
City Press
asked, could
the UN play
any role in
this dispute?
Did
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon even
raise the
issue during
his recent
travels?
Bonnie
Glaser
of the Center
for Strategic
&
International
Studies
said
the UN is
"overwhelmed"
with too much
on its plate,
mentioning
Syria.
Inner
City Press
recounted an interchange
in the UN
General
Assembly in
May
of this year,
when
Philippines
made a
reference to
the "West
Philippines
Sea"
during a
morning
session on
mediation.
China's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Wang in the
afternoon
session chided
"a
representative
this morning"
and said he
disagreed,
that
the "South
China Sea"
should be
addressed
"bilaterally."
Joshua
Kurlantzick,
Council on
Foreign
Relations
fellow for
Southeast Asia,
replied that
the
Philippines is
in a weak
position and
throws things
"up on the
wall to see
what sticks."
He too found
UN
involvement
unlikely. He
also said that
ASEAN has a
weak hand, and
has played it
weakly.
On
this, a
representative
of
US-government
agency Radio
Free Asia
asked
for a grading,
on a scale of
one to 10, of
ASEAN's
efforts, as
well
as whether
"Mister
Panetta"
should send in
more Marines.
The
grading effort
was eschewed,
but on Marines
Ms. Glaser
mentioned the
new
deployments to
Guam and
Darwin,
Australia,
adding that
for any
encounter with
North Korea,
Marines would
be important.
Ah, spheres
of influence.
Watch this
site.
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