BALI: The bitter stoush over territorial rights to islands in the South China Sea could yet steal the agenda at a regional security summit that will for the first time include the US and Russia.
The Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, praised talks in Bali yesterday between China and South-East Asian countries that produced a loose accord to guide action in the disputed Spratly Islands.
China claims the entire archipelago - thought rich in natural resources - dismissing competing claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.
Mr Rudd said the issue had great importance to Australia and the global economy because of the amount of goods shipped through the disputed waters.
''A huge proportion of world trade flows through the waters of the South China Sea,'' he said.
Mr Rudd said the expansion of the East Asia Summit to include the US and Russia was a critical development for regional security.
But he refused to be drawn on the prospect of the regime in Burma hosting the meeting in three years' time. A committee from the Association of South East Asian Nations has been asked to judge Burma's suitability to chair the meeting.
Mr Rudd said ''wise statesmanship'' had been shown by South-East Asian nations in striking the deal with China, with all countries having an interest in ensuring a peaceful regime for managing the strategic waterways.
Diplomats were yesterday hopeful the agreement with China would be enough to keep the issue from dominating the agenda at today's meeting of east Asian foreign ministers.
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, will join the meeting for the first time ahead of US and Russian presidents attending a summit of regional leaders in November.
China earlier hailed the code of conduct agreed with south-east Asian nations as a milestone in the long-running dispute over the Spratly Islands.
But the Foreign Secretary of the Philippines, Albert del Rosario, was critical of the deal, saying it needed ''more teeth''. ''The necessary elements to make the guidelines effective are still missing,'' he said.
A group of Philippines politicians made a provocative visit to one of the disputed islands on Wednesday - the same day as the meeting with China - calling it a ''sovereignty mission''.
Mr del Rosario said the US had given the Philippines its full backing in the dispute as part of a mutual defence pact between the two countries. But the Philippines still signed on to the agreement with China as a display of solidarity with other South-East Asian nations.
China has made a series of naval incursions into waters surrounding the disputed islands in recent months, menacing vessels from other nations, as Beijing grows increasingly assertive in the region
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