“Today, the regional and global landscape is undergoing complex and rapid changes, offering both opportunities and challenges”, Lao Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith told his counterparts as he opened the meeting.
Advertisement
“These 10 independent nations with independent relationships with China makes it very hard for all of them to say yes to a communique, particularly when it’s a very dicey topic like the South China Sea”, said Al Jazeera’s Scott Heidler, reporting from Vientiane. Kishida had said he would talk about the maritime dispute if he gets a chance to meet Wang during the series of foreign ministers’ meeting involving ASEAN and other Asian countries.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said that the arbitration by a UN-backed worldwide panel based in The Hague was “illegal and invalid” from beginning to the end.
The Philippines brought the global arbitration case against China, while fellow ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have competing claims to parts of the sea. It had also refused to participate in the arbitration process, claiming the tribunal lacks jurisdiction. China has also blamed the United States for stirring up trouble in the South China Sea, a vital waterway through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually.
The UN tribunal ruling earlier this month infuriated Beijing but was a victory for the Philippines, which brought the case, and fellow ASEAN members Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia who also claim parts of the South China Sea.
China and Japan have had a rather frosty relationship over a range of matters – including historical and economic issues.
Poling warns competing narratives between the USA and China will continue, with the US insisting on rule of law and carrying out freedom of navigation patrols, while China vows to counter any aggression in waters that Beijing claims as sovereign. The report said the missiles, which have been on Woody Island, the largest in the disputed Parcel Islands claimed by China and Vietnam in the South China Sea were probably shipped back to the mainland for maintenance by a Type 072A landing ship docked in the island’s harbour.
The AMM is one of the multi-sectoral meetings being hosted by Laos as per its 2016 ASEAN chairmanship, culminating in the heads-of-government East Asia Summit set for September 6-8 in Vientiane.
China on Sunday urged Japan not to intervene in the South China Sea issue as Japan is not directly concerned in any disputes there. The arbitration panel didn’t take a position on which country owns the disputed territories.
“They (ASEAN) should in particular guard against the intervention in regional cooperation by big powers outside the region”, he said according to the Xinhua news agency. It did conclude that many of them are legally rocks, even if they’ve been built into islands, and therefore do not include the worldwide rights to develop the surrounding waters.
In order to ease tensions, China, the Philippines and possibly other claimants must define what the ruling means for fishing, offshore oil and gas exploration, and military and other activities in the vast body of water that lies between the southern Chinese coast and the Philippine archipelago.
China has already objected to the Southeast Asian bloc’s meeting and called for bilateral negotiations with the Philippines. In recent days, its military has staged live-firing exercises in the area and said it would begin regular aerial patrols over the sea. It also has asserted that it will not be deterred from continuing construction of its man-made islands in the South China Sea. It simply can not afford to antagonize China, especially since the country’s new president, Rodrigo Duterte, has made friendly overtures to Beijing to fix relations that were strained under his predecessor, Benigno Aquino III. The first time, in 2012, was also due to Cambodia’s resistance to language around the South China Sea.
Advertisement
The group may issue a separate statement that emphasises unity, said an Indonesian diplomat.
