China Calls Out Countries for Their Self-serving Ideals in the APSC Committee

BEIJING, 18 June (Xinhua) — China has always been benevolent with its power. Yet, with great power comes fervent opposition. 

Recently, there has been discussion on the topic of turning the Asean Political-Security Council (APSC) to become legally binding. 

As for what was discussed in the room, China has been alerted towards the bloc of USA ministers’ attempt at making APSC legally binding. 

The following is an excerpt of committee debate:

To quote a minister from the USA, “We aim to apply some of the UN (United Nations) clauses in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) committee.” 

To that, the Chinese Foreign Minister quick-wittedly responded that, “UN and ASEAN are extremely different. ASEAN is unique and diverse. The UN clauses are too general, as it is a one size fits all solution. It will not work in ASEAN councils. ASEAN requires unique adjusting. One good example is that Brunei is currently using the Islamic law that functions differently from the ones UN are following.” 

“The USA’s idea of implementing UN clauses is not properly thought out and is a rash act, considering the diversity of the ASEAN committee,” The minister continued. 

However, foolish naysayers still are numerous. 

“The ASEAN countries have long been friends with the USA,” the USA minister proclaimed. “They deserve have legally binding declarations. All friends of the USA do.”

Evidently, one cannot help but question the maturity of a politician who brings up “friendship” in the consequential context of politics. 

The minister of China hence felt the need to reply to the USA’s unfounded and rash attempt. 

Chinese ministers from the various sectors such as Energy, Sports, Foreign Affairs and more have come together to reinforce their stance on retaining ASEAN’s status as being non-legally binding. 

From this, The ministers of China have reached a consensus. China feels that it is vital to maintain the status quo as true cooperation is built on sovereignty, consensus and mutual respect, not rigid enforcement. 

As eloquently stated by the Chinese Minister of Energy, “We need to maintain ASEAN independence and each nation's sovereignty.” 

The reason why China believes in preserving APSC’s non-legally binding state as it helps to uphold the founding principles of ASEAN. 

When asked to clarify about why China is against the APSC being legally binding, China’s foreign minister’s unwavering response was, “There is absolutely no need for such powers as these powers can easily be abused, causing more harm than good.” 

Likewise, The foreign minister of China wished to echo a saying passed down by the forefathers of China’s age of industrialisation goes as follows, “If the machine works, don’t fix it.” 

Given how the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) already works swimmingly well, there is absolutely no need for the APSC to be legally-binding. 

Further, the Chinese ministers called for countries to take accountability for their own nations to ensure that they implement the frameworks passed in the APSC. There is no use in forcing a country to adopt policies that may potentially cause instability in the country due to the lack of required resources.

Yet some countries still believe that they should still stand for some form of binding power in the APSC. 

For example, Xinhua’s interview with a minister of Japan goes as follows. 

“Japan respects each country’s sovereignty, and Japan thus calls for APSC’s limited binding powers.” Japan’s foreign minister continued, “This is because Japan has a lot of trade and economic relations with ASEAN, as APSC’s legally binding powers can improve stability in the region.” 

Apparently, this is extremely “needed and all-important” for Japan. 

In another sense, Japan is selfishly putting their national interest first above the committee’s concerns. 

China would never do so. Japan only stands for their own diplomatic relations, and not for their true beliefs. 

Most importantly, China does not stand for powers that can threaten ASEAN charter’s principle of non-interference and sovereignty by wanting to change anything about it. China hopes that the other countries of the APSC can take these principled sentiments into consideration.