The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) said that it is committed to establishing dispute settlement mechanisms that will ensure a rules-based community in the West Philippine

Sea (South China Sea), which became Asia’s biggest potential military flashpoint where countries continue to vie for resource-rich islands.

“Asean is strongly committed to establish dispute settlement mechanisms in all fields of cooperation,” Bagas Hapsoro, Asean’s deputy secretary-general for community and corporate affairs, said during a workshop in Jakarta that aims to familiarize stakeholders with the 10-member bloc’s Enhanced Dispute Settlement Mechanisms.

“Putting in place dispute settlement mechanisms with proper institution and the right resource persons instills trust and confidence to all stakeholders on the seriousness of Asean in its efforts toward a rules-based community,” Hapsoro said in a statement sent by the Asean.

He said that the workshop contributes to efforts in further strengthening “interaction and engagement” among representatives of relevant agencies of governments of the Asean member-states such as the Asean Senior Law Officials Meeting and the Senior Economic Officials Meeting.

Georg Witschel, ambassador of the federal republic of Germany, was also at the workshop to give a speech that stated the importance of understanding dispute settlements.

He said that understanding dispute settlements “will give certainty for both people and governments of Asean and its partners.”

The workshop, which was supported by Germany’s Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GmbH and the Federal Foreign Office, aims to familiarize participants with dispute settlement mechanisms and provided them with a forum to exchange views and ideas with speakers and experts.

The workshop would also aims to ensure the effectiveness of the mechanisms, those in place and those still to be drafted, within both national and regional contexts.

Among the topics discussed are “the need to increase understanding compliance for obligations, additional engagement with the business sector, as well as having an Asean Law moot court competition on dispute settlement matters.”

A dispute settlement mechanism is seen as a needed instrument to settle territorial issues in the West Philippine Sea, where China, Taiwan and Asean members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam are embroiled in competing claims on the islands.

Although the 2002 Declaration on the Code of Conduct was signed to reduce tensions and prevent aggressive actions in the region by China and the Asean, it did not provide for a dispute settlement mechanism that can be a basis for the resolution of the overlapping territorial claims.