Asean statement breaks deadlock on South China Sea

Manila drops request to refer to court ruling in statement

Southeast Asian nations overcame days of deadlock yesterday when the Philippines dropped a request for their joint statement to mention a landmark legal ruling on the South China Sea, officials said, after objections from Cambodia.

Beijing publicly thanked Cambodia for supporting its stance on maritime disputes, a position which threw the regional block’s weekend meeting in the Laos capital of Vientiane into disarray.

Competing claims with China in the vita shipping are among the most contentious issues for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [Asean], with its 10 members pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while finding common ground and fostering political and commercial ties with Beijing. China claims most of the sea, but Asean members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have rival claims.

In a ruling by the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration on July 12, the Philippines won an emphatic legal victory over China on the dispute.

The Philippines and Vietnam both wanted the ruling, which denied China’s sweeping claims in the strategic seaway that channels more than $5 trillion (Dh18.36 trillion) in global trade each year, and a call to respect international maritime law to feature in the communique.

Calling for bilateral discussions, Cambodia opposed the wording on the ruling, diplomats said.

Serious concern

Manila agreed to drop the reference to the ruling in the communique, one Asean diplomat said on Monday, in an effort to prevent the disagreement leading Southeast Asian nations yesterday ducked direct criticism of China over its claims to the South China Sea, in a diluted statement produced after days of disagreement that gives the superpower a diplomatic victory.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) avoided mention of a ruling by a UN-backed tribunal which had rejected China’s claims and infuriated Beijing.

Instead, Asean repeated that it was “seriously concerned” by “land reclamations and escalation of activities” and called for “selfrestraint” in the strategic waterway.

It is the first time key players — including US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi — have met en masse since a UN-backed. A statement was finally released on Monday after hours of last-minute talks finally cut through the impasse — but it tacked away from criticism of Beijing.

“We just averted another potential debacle,” one Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP, referring to a 2012 summit in Cambodia at which the bloc for the first time failed to issue a joint statement because of disagreements on the South China Sea. to the group failing to issue a statement. The communique referred instead to the need to find peaceful resolutions to disputes in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, including the United Nations’ law of the sea, to which the court ruling referred.

“We remain seriously concerned about recent and ongoing developments and took note of the concerns expressed by some ministers on the land reclamations and escalation of activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region,” the Asean communique said.

It was important to avoid militarisation of the region, and for freedom of navigation to be maintained, Asean said.

Beijing says the court ruling has no bearing on its rights in the sea, and described the case as a farce.

Cambodia’s position was the right one and would safeguard unity of Asean and cooperation with China, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon, according to a statement posted on China’s Foreign Ministry website early on Monday.

“China greatly approves of Cambodia and other Asean countries taking charge of impartiality and safeguarding fairness,” Wang said.

China frequently blames the United States for raising tensions in the region and has warned regional rival Japan to steer clear of the dispute.