Foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are now meeting in Laos’ capital Vientiane for the 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
Advertisement
The U.S. says it maintains neutrality in questions of sovereignty in disputes over the South China Sea involving China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.
Japan and the US are presenting a united front on the South China Sea, concerned that Beijing’s maritime ambitions could threaten the region’s stability.
The overt animosity between China and Japan stem from disagreements about compensation from Japan’s actions during World War II in China as well as a dispute over ownership of islands between the neighboring countries.
“Many ministers stressed that in this context, Asean should promote solidarity, unity and a central role”, the statement added. N. court decision about China’s rights in the South China Sea.
Billy Chia-Lung Tai, a Cambodia-based human rights consultant and lecturer on worldwide dispute resolution, is set to be a panelist at a talk on the issue in the German cultural center in Phnom Penh this week.
“The foreign minister said the time has come to move away from public tensions and turn the page”, Kerry told a news conference.
Staunch Beijing ally Cambodia was accused of scuppering efforts by the bloc to issue a joint statement calling on Beijing to adhere to the tribunal’s decision.
“We have been here before and I hope they can solve it”, said one official from the ASEAN Secretariat in Indonesia. “But we still have not agreed on anything”. “We’re back to the negotiating table”.
Laos described the initial meeting of foreign ministers as “candid and constructive” but by mid-afternoon there was little sign of a breakthrough.
A failure to respond to the tribunal ruling or the region’s key security issue will do little to counter those claims.
Some countries are pushing to include a reference that urges all countries to fully “respect diplomatic and legal process”, he said – in line with statements released by the European Union, the United States and Japan following the UN-backed decision. “This is a question Asian countries should ponder on, and so should other countries”.
The three met in Vientiane on the sidelines of a series of meetings organized by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
A failure by ASEAN to respond to the tribunal will do little to counter criticism that the bloc risks fading into obscurity as a talking shop with little real diplomatic clout. It was not immediately clear if the footage was portraying the military exercises that China had announced last week for parts of the South China Sea, just days after an global tribunal ruled against Beijing’s claim to ownership of virtually the entire strategic waterway.
The communique referred instead to the need to find peaceful resolutions to disputes in the South China Sea in accordance with worldwide law, including the United Nations’ law of the sea.
That shift ended the debate and dealt a blow to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who urged ASEAN earlier Monday to mention it.
Kerry was also expected to discuss maritime issues in a meeting with Wang on Monday. “It has led the control and negotiation on the South China Sea disputes towards a path of tension and confrontation, and turned the original peaceful and tranquil South China Sea into waters with waves and storms”. 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”.
Advertisement
He had doubts that China and Asean could agree on the code of conduct by the first half of 2017 due to the grave differences between China and Asean countries.
