China on Sunday called on Japan to restrain from intervening in the South China Sea issue as it is not directly concerned in the dispute and has no right to accuse other states, considering its “shameful” history.
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At a meeting in Laos, foreign ministers from 10 states – the Asean group – were unable to reach a joint statement.
At the summit opening Laos foreign minister Saleumxay Kommasith listed the hur, dles facing the bloc as “territorial disputes, extremism and terrorism, natural disasters, climate change. refugee issues”.
The tribunal’s award “amounts to prescribing a dose of wrong medicine. and it seems that certain countries outside the region have got all worked up, keeping the fever high”, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, referring to the United States. “That’s why we urge other counties in the region to lower the temperature”, he told a news conference after 90 minutes of talks with the ASEAN ministers.
For Laos’ part, Saleumxay Kommasith conveyed that, as the current Asean Chair, Laos will try to further mobilise discussion on the execution of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and negotiations on a formal Code of Conduct. “We need as a whole [for] ASEAN to voice the importance of protecting our home”, Marsudi said.
An ASEAN statement, Yasay said, backing the legal and diplomatic processes being pursued by the Philippines will not only reflect ASEAN respect for a rules-based order, but also reaffirm ASEAN’s “centrality and solidarity in the regional security architecture”.
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.
But in the run-up to the meeting, China’s closest Asean ally Cambodia opposed mentioning the ruling, throwing the group into disarray.
China, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by others, called the ruling “ill-founded” and said it would not be bound by it.
“We have been here before, and I hope they can solve it”, said one official from the ASEAN Secretariat in Indonesia. They made a decision to meet again on Monday morning ahead of their scheduled meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Her counterparts have remained tight-lipped over what diplomats described as hard negotiations over how the South China Sea should be mentioned in the draft communique.
Speaking to reporters Monday after the emergency meeting, Don refused to say if the communique will contain a reference to South China Sea and China’s disputes with four ASEAN members. It is not clear whether he will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. China’s claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
Kerry will urge ASEAN nations to explore diplomatic ways to ease tension over Asia’s biggest potential military flashpoint, a senior US official said ahead of his trip.
She is also expected to call on top Chinese leadership. A commentary published by the official Xinhua news agency on Sunday said the court ruling was a “blow to peace and stability in the region. and only serves to increase the likelihood of confrontation and turbulence”.
US President Barack Obama is set to become the first US president to visit Laos in September to attend an annual summit hosted by the Asean chairman.
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Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is also in Laos, making her debut at ASEAN meetings as the foreign minister for Myanmar.
