(19 Jul 2011)
1. Wide of foreign ministers from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), meeting
2. Pan of meeting
3. Laos Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith
4. Various of ministers
5. Zoom in to Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa walking past
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Marty Natalegawa, Indonesian Foreign Minister:
"As well as the court's decision that the observer by ASEAN be facilitated, so that is a very key element and now we have not only the Security Council of the United Nations in support of ASEAN, but we have also the International Court of Justice also expressing it's support for ASEAN's facilitating role. So it would appear to me that whether it be New York or whether it be The Hague, all roads lead to ASEAN."
7. Cutaway of camera
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary General:
"East Asia has been very, very critical to the global community in the past few years, more than before, so everybody would like to be certain that East Asia can manage its own differences and its own issues and the South China Sea is one such issue that we need to reassure the world."
9. Pan of foreign ministers' meeting
10. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, reading
11. Close of ASEAN official
12. Singapore Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam
13. Wide of retreat session
STORYLINE:
Territorial disputes and flare-ups in the South China Sea were expected to take centre stage at Asia's largest security forum this week, with Vietnam and the Philippines accusing China of interfering in their energy exploration efforts.
Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations arrived on Tuesday at a tightly guarded five-star hotel on Indonesia's resort island of Bali for their annual get-together.
They will be joined later in the week by officials from Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States for the ASEAN Regional Forum.
Members were growing frustrated by the slow pace of democratic reforms in military-dominated Myanmar and want to end once and for all a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand.
"Now we have not only the Security Council of the United Nations in support of ASEAN, but we have also the International Court of Justice also expressing its support," Marty Natalegawa, Indonesian Foreign Minister said, referring to a recent decision by UN's highest court, ordering troops from both Thailand and Cambodia to immediately withdraw military forces from disputed areas straddling their border.
"Whether it be New York or whether it be The Hague, all roads lead to ASEAN," Marty Natalegawa said.
Overshadowing talks, however, will be China's increasingly assertive stance in the potentially resource-rich South China Sea, officials said on the sidelines on Tuesday.
The sparring is primarily over the Spratlys, nearby Paracels and Scarborough Shoal, a slew of tiny, mostly uninhabited islands, some no more than a half-submerged coral reef and surrounding waters.
China claims the entire area, a large swath extending far from its southern coast and overlapping with the 230-mile (370-kilometre) exclusive economic zones of the Philippines and Vietnam and, to a lesser degree, of Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
"Everybody would like to be certain that East Asia can manage its own differences and its own issues and the South China Sea is one such issue that we need to reassure the world," Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary General said.
Vietnam says on two occasions since May, China cut cables used by its ships to conduct seismic tests on the sea floor, something Beijing denies.
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