In order to resolve territorial disputes with other countries over the South China sea, China wants to enter into joint exploration agreements, a Chinese expert said.
Senior Col. Zhou Bo, Director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation, said that the key ingredients to end territorial disputes are for other claimants the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Taiwan to agree on a combined exploration agreements with China, though this is very common among several countries.
In an interview with CCTV News, Bo said that “a solution to resolving disputes is to hold friendly discussions with all concerned countries.
He said, “As far as China is concerned, China always has put forward many proposals about resolving all these disputes. One of them is shelving differences and make joint explorations.”
He claimed that throughout history, China has persevered in pursuing border claims, but 90 percent of the issues have been resolved and only a few countries do not have territorial disputes with other countries.
“For instance, Japan has territorial disputes with Russia, with China, with (Republic of Korea) and of the ten ASEAN nations,” Bo said.
The expert encouraged China and member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.
Foreign observer says that Joint exploration within the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone is a likely outcome of negotiations wherein the incoming Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he has plans to have a dialogue with Chinese President Xi Jinping to resolve the dispute over the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea.
Duterte said prior to the revival of bilateral talks ” I should wait for the result of a U.N. ruling on Manila’s case against Beijing.” - Jason E.
