"ASEAN should be able to mediate the inter-nation conflict in the South China Sea," head of the Research Center for the Development of Marine Studies and Maritime Civilization Suhana said here on Sunday.
The interest to immediately settle the inter-nation conflict in the South China Sea is very crucial particularly relating to the rampant illegal fishing practices in the fisheries rich-resource areas, Suhana said.
According to him, although Indonesia was not directly involved in the dispute, the inter-nation conflict might also affect Indonesian fisheries affairs.
"A lot of illegal fishing operations in the Indonesian waters were carried out by the ASEAN countries," Suhana said.
The working group of the ASEAN senior officials meetings (SOM) was scheduled to discuss the code of conduct (COC) of the inter-nation cooperation around the South China Sea as part of the 19th ASEAN summit here on Sunday.(*)
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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
