Former Vice Foreign Minister of Thailand: South China Sea Should Be a Sea of Peace, Cooperation and Where We Can Benefit Together

BEIJING, March 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In this interview with Sorajak Kasemsuvan, Council Member, Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council; Former Vice Foreign Minister of Thailand, he analyzes the holistic and collaborative solution to ocean governance issues, expounds the importance of the South China Sea Code of Conduct and environmental protection cooperation, and interprets the core connotation of mutual benefit in China-ASEAN economic and maritime governance cooperation.

China-ASEAN Observation (COA): Global ocean governance is facing many new challenges. What do you think is the most pressing issue at present?

Sorajak Kasemsuvan: I think so many issues are really at the top of the list, I cannot say really which one is the top. It depends on where you are. It depends on what affect you most. Another thing that we might not even thought of, but we in several countries in Southeast Asia have been affected recently is the unprecedented level of torrential rainfalls. And flooding is now getting higher and higher and higher every year. Not because of the rainfalls only, but because of the sea level that is rising as well. So many dimensions of the problems at the moment. It's difficult to pinpoint which one will be the most important one to tackle first. We have to tackle them in a very holistic way, and we have to tackle them in a very collaborative way, multilaterally. There's no single nation that can handle it single-handedly. And also is no use for any single or any leader to say that this is not true, this is false. Scientific evidence have shown so much that this is happening. This is a great hazard to humanity.

China-ASEAN Observation (COA): How should countries' responsibilities be defined to ensure the stability and fairness of global ocean governance?

Sorajak Kasemsuvan: I think, first of all, it is important for the public in each nation to believe and to be convinced that this is really happening. And to believe that if you're not doing anything, then not only our generation, maybe not so much with our generation, but our next generation, our children, might not be safe to live anymore.

So it's important for each country and the public in this country to understand. And once they understand the risk, once they understand the hazards, once they understand the impact that will happen to the country and the generation, then they will start to think that they have to do something, both something by themselves, and also something that would be abide by the law. So the law is important in this regard, but the law will not have any impact if people don't believe in it. So we have to make everyone feel that they have to take this seriously and then be abided by the law.

China-ASEAN Observation (COA): What new challenges do you think the construction of cooperation mechanisms in the South China Sea region may face?

Sorajak Kasemsuvan: We are eagerly awaiting the COC, right? So many years already in the making. We hope at the end of these years, that next year will be the year where we have the COC. So that's one thing, we have to rush for the COC. We can't cooperate without COC. Functional cooperation is very important, I mean. The Law of the Sea convention also talk about interim measure, provisional measures, whereby countries have not agreed on the limitation yet, they can cooperate functionally on various forms of cooperation, which will not prejudice the final conclusion of the limitation. So let's cooperate in everything.

And I think the most important and easiest way to cooperate in the South China Sea is on the environmental protection of the sea. Marine environmental protection cooperation in South China Sea is very important. Everybody feels it, every littoral state of South China Sea feels the impact of marine environmental problem. And that is where we should start. And once we get all the countries-all the littoral countries, maybe with China leading, to feel that this is a sea to protect together. As long as we cooperate, as long as we make the South China Sea "the sea of peace", as long as we make the South China Sea "the sea of cooperation", as long as we make the South China Sea "the sea where we can benefit together".

China-ASEAN Observation (COA): What new opportunities and challenges do you foresee for China-ASEAN regional economic cooperation?

Sorajak Kasemsuvan: A lot, I think. I'm not expert on this, but I'm sure that China is the closest superpower neighbor to us. And not only geographically, we have proximity with China, but ethnically, we are close. I mean, people in Southeast Asia, in any countries, especially Thailand, for example, half the population, more than half have Chinese roots. So we rely on each other so much between ASEAN and China. We rely on economic cooperation so much. Now we rely also on technological cooperation. I think there are much greater rooms for China to play in enhancing the economic prosperity and growth in ASEAN countries. But for that role to be effective, it has to be reciprocal. We cannot just having China importing everything into us. China has to take things, buy things from us as well. So you have to be reciprocal. The greater our trade and economic relation is reciprocal, the greater our cooperation will be.

So in various ways, at the moment, in Thailand, for example, and also in other ASEAN countries, we look at China for environmental technology. And we import a lot of solar energy equipments, cars, EVs are very important now at the moment. All these we have to cooperate with China. Especially right now where Trump and his administration do not believe in the impact of climate change and imposing such an incredible tariffs on us, China and ASEAN, we have to hold hands together, we have to go together and create greater possibility in our region.

China-ASEAN Observation (COA): What do you regard as the core principle of maritime cooperative governance?

Sorajak Kasemsuvan: When we have cooperation, like in marine environment or even in security, coast guards, and further if you could have cooperation in the hydrocarbon or whatever, or even wind energy, then everybody feels, every nation concerned feels that we benefit from it. Once you feel that you have the benefit, you don't want to lose that benefit, because you don't want to lose that benefit due to cooperation. Then you don't want to be threatened by insecurity and conflicts in the region. So I think close cooperation is so important, collaboration is so important, in any areas, in maritime dimensions.

We need to make people convince and believe that the world is being threatened, the globe is being threatened by this very serious climate change phenomenon. This is not a fantasy. This is not something people make up. We have to make sure that everybody understands it. Understanding is more important than anything else at the moment.

SOURCE China-ASEAN Observation