No consensus on South China Sea

Diplomatic stalemate despite three rounds of talks

VIENTIANE, Laos, July 24, (AP): Southeast Asia’s main grouping apparently failed to reach a consensus on how to deal with China’s territorial expansion in the South China Sea, intensifying a diplomatic stalemate despite three rounds of formal and informal talks Sunday.

The foreign ministers of the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations deliberated for several hours during the three sessions, including over lunch, but remained deadlocked because Cambodia didn’t want China criticized, diplomats said.

“It’s really a loyalist of the big country C,” a diplomat who attended closed-door meetings told The Associated Press, referring to China.

The stalemate puts pressure on ASEAN’s cherished unity and also gives an upper hand to China, which has used every diplomatic means at its disposal to stave off wider international criticism over moves it’s made in the South China Sea that have impacted four Southeast Asian countries.

“Certainly, Cambodia’s paralysis of ASEAN ... hurts ASEAN’s unity, cohesion, relevance and reputation,” said Malcolm Cook, an analyst at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, a Singapore think-tank. “It makes ASEAN peripheral, not central, on this issue.”

A bland press statement issued at the end of the first round of talks Sunday said only that the ministers had a “candid and constructive exchange of views on regional and international issues ... as well as developments in the Middle East, Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea.”

Broke

After that, the foreign ministers broke for lunch before going into a so-called “retreat,” where they were by themselves and in less formal surroundings. It was not clear whether they made any progress because many of the ministers came out and said nothing to waiting reporters. No statement was issued. Like all other ASEAN meetings, the foreign ministers’ conclave also traditionally issues a joint communique. But the sticking point is whether to include in it a reference to the South China Sea.

ASEAN’s cardinal principle is decisions by consensus, which means any country can veto a proposal. This time, it is Cambodia, China’s close ally, invoking its veto. In 2012, Cambodia also blocked a reference to the dispute, which ended with the ministers failing to issue a statement for the first time in the bloc’s history.