(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Nay Pyi Taw Myanmar August 10 (QNA) - Southeast Asian foreign ministers Sunday expressed 'serious' concerns over tension in the South China Sea. In a statement today the ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said they "remained seriously concerned over recent developments which had increased tensions in the South China Sea". According to the Philippines News Agency (PNA) the initial draft of the document did not have the word "seriously" but it was added in the final version following a request by Vietnam which was earlier this year embroiled in a tense standoff with China in waters claimed by both sides according to diplomats familiar with the situation. The statement of the ASEAN ministers "reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace stability maritime security as well as freedom of navigation in and over-flight" above the sea and settling disputes "without resorting to the threat or use of force" and friendly negotiations "in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law." The initial draft also contained one paragraph on their concerns over "the current tensions in the East China Sea" stemming from a fierce territorial dispute between Japan and China over a group of small islands. But the paragraph - which had included a sentence calling on countries involved in the East China Sea issue "to refrain from taking unilateral action that would increase tensions and change the status quo" - was deleted in the official version which reflects their discussions held in Myanmar's capital Nay Pyi Taw. Some ASEAN countries raised the issue of the East China Sea during the ministerial meeting but apparently in consideration of their relations with China Brunei Cambodia Laos Myanmar and Thailand requested that the paragraph be dropped from the last version according to the diplomats. The Philippines Singapore and Vietnam pushed for retaining the paragraph while the two remaining members of the association - Indonesia and Malaysia - did not take a position on the matter said the diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity the PNA report said. Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands are claimed by China and Taiwan which call them Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai respectively. In May tensions in the South China Sea spiked when China deployed a giant oil drilling rig in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands claimed by both China and Vietnam. The friction at sea over China's drilling led to numerous collisions between vessels of the two countries. (QNA)
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