No consensus on South China Sea despite rounds of talks

Southeast Asia’s main grouping apparently failed to reach a consensus Sunday on how to counter China’s territorial expansion in the South China Sea, intensifying a diplomatic stalemate despite three rounds of formal and informal talks.

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 unity and 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.