(VOVworld)- ASEAN believes that there should be a proper mechanism to resolve disputes in the East Sea, said Ikram Yaakob, Director-General of the ASEAN-Malaysia National Secretariat on Wednesday. In a statement following the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (SOM ASEAN) and related meetings, Ikram Yaakob said that all disputing parties, includes China, have pledged to seek agreement on the East Sea issue.
He stressed that the main result of the meetings was that ASEAN and China agreed to continue resolving some issues in a constructive manner.
Mr. Yaakob added that at this point, debating mechanisms would be needed to consider the issue and emphasized that it was important that all parties agree on peaceful measures to resolve the issue, in accordance with international law.
At a meeting of the Parliament of Malaysia on the same day, Malaysia’s Defense Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said that military solutions were not appropriate to resolve disputes and disagreements in the East Sea, only diplomatic and military relations in the ASEAN context would work.
He said that ASEAN member countries needed to be more united and alert to the important challenges concerning the world’s major powers.