Ong Shijie: In the South China Sea issue, intervention by foreign countries should avoid escalating conflicts

China News Service, Kuala Lumpur, October 23 (Reporter Liu Yuying) Ong See Kit, former Minister of Transport of Malaysia and Chairman of the Asia-Pacific "One Belt and One Road" Co-Planning Council, recently stated that the key to resolving disputes in the South China Sea lies in seeking solutions through individual bilateral consultations to avoid further complicating conflicts caused by the intervention of outside countries.

Zeng Xiaoming, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the China South China Sea Research Institute, and Xiong Jingjing, Vice President of the Hainan Academy of Social Sciences, led a delegation to visit the Asia-Pacific "One Belt, One Road" Co-Planning Conference on the 21st. The two parties exchanged in-depth views on topics such as the situation in the South China Sea, regional security, international geopolitical and economic situations, the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and cooperation between Malaysia and China think tanks, and discussed the direction of future cooperation.

When it comes to the South China Sea issue, Ong said that the specific disputes between the four claimant countries of Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, and the Philippines and China are different. To effectively resolve the differences, the key is to seek solutions through individual bilateral consultations and avoid further complicating conflicts caused by the intervention of outside countries.

He believes that although the "South China Sea Code of Conduct", a maritime rules document negotiated by China and the ten ASEAN countries and led by regional countries, cannot resolve the South China Sea sovereignty dispute once and for all, if consensus cannot be reached for a long time, it will not only leave hidden dangers to regional peace and stability, but also damage the basis of mutual trust between the parties to the dispute.

Ong Shijie said that ASEAN and China are each other's largest trading partners, and both sides should further expand regional security cooperation space. He believes that the recent joint action against telecommunications network fraud can serve as an example of cooperation and that relevant models can be expanded to areas such as climate security, food security, and energy security. This is consistent with China’s global security initiative. He emphasized that regional security is not equivalent to military alliances. What is more important is to leverage regional collective strength to jointly respond to non-traditional security challenges.

Ong Shijie also hopes that Chinese think tanks will carry out more "away diplomacy" on global issues, actively participate in and jointly organize overseas international forums, and further strengthen international exchanges and dialogues.