"Indonesia in its capacity as the ASEAN chair should encourage diplomacy so that the border dispute would be discussed (in the summit)," Suhana, chief researcher of the Maritime Development Institute, said when he was contacted from Bali on Sunday.
He said that the capacity of Indonesia the ASEAN chair was an important factor that could boost dialogs on border dispute among ASEAN members.
After all, he said, Indonesia itself also has border problems with its neighbors like Malaysia and Singapore.
He reminded that the conflict in the South China Sea between China and ASEAN countries had been taking place for a long time.
"The main ASEAN agenda should include efforts how to solve the border dispute issues," he said.
Leaders of ASEAN in a number of summits held so far such as that in Jakarta in May 2011 and Bali in November 2011, have realized various geopolitical developments in the region such as the Cambodian-Thailand border conflict and the overlapping claim over (the Spratlys) in the South China Sea.
In this regard, he said, ASEAN should be able to solve the problems among its member states while at the same time it should also be active in providing solutions to various crisis in the region and the world.
(Uu.A014/H-NG/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
