Nobel Peace laureate proposes 'only solution' to China-Phl row

MANILA, Philippines — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta knows that none of that countries involved in the territorial disputes over the South China and East China seas will back down on their claims.

"It is politically impossible for any of the claimant states to give up an inch on their claim [of] sovereignty in the area," said Ramos Horta, who recently assumed the post as United Nations' (UN) special representative and head of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau.

The former East Timor president thinks that a UN mechanism such as the arbitration case lodged by the Philippines last year against China may not settle the longstanding maritime tensions that have recently escalated following China's unilateral actions.

One reason is China does not recognize a UN framework and also does not want a third party such as the United States to dabble in the matter, he said.

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"The United Nations is not the only forum whereby these issues to be discussed. If China does not wish the United States to be involved, that's fine. There are other arrangements, the important [thing] is all parties involved begin talking on the escalated tensions," Ramos Horta said in a televised interview on Bloomberg on Monday.

Horta explained that the best option left for the equally adamant claimant states is to meet and talk diplomatically.

"The only solution for those leaders of the region with a sense of responsibility to maintain peace and security in the region is to scale down the tensions, tone down the public statements, sit down under whatever formula they might agree [on]," Ramos Horta said.

Ramos Horta, who opposed the Indonesian occupation on East Timor, believes that international principles may give merit to claims but may not tone down the rivalry. There is "no other alternative" but for East Asian countries to strike an agreement and end the dispute once and for all.

"One thing is certain, China or Japan or the Philippines or Vietnam, they are not going to back down on their sovereign claims, none of them is going to be able to impose their claims on the others. So they're going to have to compromise, and the best compromise is [have] joint development in the area," he said.

"It is the best interest for each and everyone of them, the best interest of the region. There are experiences in the past. Diplomacy was invented precisely to address seemingly intractable tensions or disputes, so I believe that we deal with countries that have good solid reputation, from China to Vietnam to Japan to the Philippines," Ramos Horta added.

He also refused to point his fingers at China for its recent actions in the waters the United States called "destabilizing" and unbecoming of a rising global leader.

He argued that rival claimants must also understand China's "historical grievances" that make it suspicious of Western powers.

"Let us not forget that through centuries, decades until the Cold War ended, China was invaded, colonized by almost any conceivable power. China was victimized in World War II by the Japanese Imperial Army, Then came the social containment policy of the United States," Ramos Horta said.

Parties should also not jeopardize on the progress in the region by endangering the freedom of navigation and overflight in the strategic waterways.

"So if they cannot accept a UN framework for discussion, let's find another formula, a creative one, wherein everybody would sit around the table and put forward their views, how they want to address the issues," he said.

Still, China has to project itself as a respectable, 21st century power by avoiding aggression at sea, he said.

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In resorting to arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Philippines had said it has exhausted all means in attempting to settle the maritime row with China.

It has submitted its 4,000-page memorial to the arbitral tribunal earlier this year, but China has rejected the proceedings and insisted on bilateral negotiations.

China has recently blocked Filipino ships from resupplying to a Marines outpost on Second Thomas (Ayungin) Shoal and started reclamation work on Philippine-claimed waters, insisting on its indisputable sovereignty.