南シナ海情勢 日米ＡＳＥＡＮで対中連携を

The Yomiuri Shimbun September 20, 2013
Japan, U.S. and ASEAN must team up to counter China’s maritime advance
南シナ海情勢　日米ＡＳＥＡＮで対中連携を（9月19日付・読売社説）

It is becoming apparent that China intends to strengthen its hegemony in the South China Sea while stalling for time in drawing up a code of conduct to avoid hostilities.
　紛争を避けるルール作りで時間稼ぎをする間に南シナ海での支配力を強める。中国のそんな意図が見えてきた。

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held the first official talks among senior officials to move toward deciding on a code of conduct to regulate the activities of countries concerned in the South China Sea.
　中国と東南アジア諸国連合（ＡＳＥＡＮ）は、南シナ海で各国の行動を規制する「行動規範」の策定に向けた初の公式高官協議を行った。

Yet China remained halfhearted over the issue throughout the talks, with the meeting only deciding on the establishment of a meeting of experts.
だが、中国は消極的態度に終始し、専門家会合設置を決めるにとどまった。

In the South China Sea, China is in conflict with such ASEAN countries as the Philippines and Vietnam regarding sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and other islands and reefs.
　南シナ海では、南沙諸島などの領有権を巡り、中国と、フィリピン、ベトナムなどＡＳＥＡＮ加盟国が対立している。

China asserts a claim of exclusive sovereignty over not only the Spratly Islands but nearly all of the South China Sea. Yet it has not brought the international community around to its point of view.
　中国は、南沙諸島だけでなく、南シナ海ほぼ全域で独占的な権益を持つと主張しているが、国際的な理解は得られていない。

For over a decade, the ASEAN countries have been trying to secure agreement from China on the establishment of rules of conduct to prevent overt hostilities in the South China Sea. Yet, with its overwhelming military and economic power, China refused to hold such a meeting until recently.
　ＡＳＥＡＮは中国に対して、１０年以上にわたり紛争防止のためのルール作りを働きかけてきた。しかし、軍事的にも経済的にも圧倒的な力を持つ中国は協議を受け入れてこなかった。

It is regrettable that even when China finally did come to the negotiating table, it proposed discussing other issues instead and would not go into a detailed discussion on the code of conduct.
　ようやくテーブルに着いたものの、中国が別の議題を提示し、行動規範で突っ込んだ議論をしようとしなかったのは残念である。

Scarborough stare-down

In the South China Sea, with no code of conduct for concerned countries, the crisis is only deepening. The current focal point lies in the conflict between the Philippines and China.
　ルールなき南シナ海で、危機は深まる一方である。現在の焦点は、フィリピンと中国の対立だ。

Around the disputed Scarborough Shoal, over which both countries claim sovereignty, naval vessels from the two sides faced each other for two months. The government of the Philippines said that after it moved its vessels away, China placed concrete blocks on the shoal.
　係争地スカボロー礁では、昨年、両国の艦船が２か月間にらみ合った。比政府によると、フィリピンが艦船を引き揚げた後、中国がコンクリートブロックを据え付けたという。

Earlier this year, the Philippines filed a request for arbitration under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, asserting that China’s claim of sovereignty over the shoal is unlawful. This month, China held an exhibition inviting heads of ASEAN member countries. But the president of the Philippines was not invited.
　フィリピンは今年に入り、国連海洋法条約に基づき、中国の領有権の主張は不当であるとして、仲裁裁判を申請した。今月、中国では、ＡＳＥＡＮ首脳らを招いた博覧会が開かれたが、比大統領は招待されなかった。

The snub must be interpreted as an attempt by China to rebuke the Philippines over the country’s having taken legal action against China.
　法的手段に訴えたフィリピンへの、中国の嫌がらせと取られても仕方がない。

It is understandable that the Philippines, pressured physically by China, has been intensifying relations with the United States and Japan.
　中国に物理的圧力をかけられたフィリピンが、米国や日本へ接近を強めているのは理解できる。

While having expanded a joint military exercise with the United States, the Philippines is moving ahead in talks with the United States that are likely to lead, in effect, to the stationing of U.S. forces in the Philippines again. There is a possibility that the Subic naval base, once a strategic foothold for the United States, will again be used for the deployment of U.S. forces.
　米比共同軍事訓練を強化したほか、実質的な米軍再駐留につながる協議を進めている。かつての米戦略拠点だったスービック海軍基地が再び米軍の展開に使われる可能性もある。

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, since he took office last December, has intensively visited ASEAN countries and presented his plan of providing 10 patrol vessels to the Philippines.
　安倍首相は就任以来、ＡＳＥＡＮ諸国を重点的に歴訪し、フィリピンには巡視船１０隻を供与する方針を示した。

For both Japan and the United States, which face the expanding presence of China in the East China Sea and the western Pacific, the significance of cooperating with ASEAN member countries by taking concerted actions with them is not limited to the South China Sea. It will help their efforts to check China from expanding its maritime activities elsewhere as well.
　東シナ海や西太平洋で中国の膨張に直面する日米両国にとって、歩調を合わせてＡＳＥＡＮ諸国と連携する意味合いは、南シナ海にとどまらない。中国の海洋進出全体を牽制(けんせい)することにもなろう。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 19, 2013)
（2013年9月19日01時32分  読売新聞）