China rejected the tribunal ruling on the South China Sea as “waste paper” and asserted its right, if it chooses, to establish an Air Defence Identification Zone controlling flights over the area.
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A highly anticipated meeting between Southeast Asian foreign ministers and their Chinese counterpart has ended.
Beijing’s officials see an American plot behind the arbitration case, considering that as just another sign of what China perceives as a relentless US campaign to contain its rise to prominence.
In meetings with Yang and Fan, Rice said all countries should “avoid taking actions that raise tensions and could raise the risks of miscalculation” in the South China Sea, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly.
After hectic negotiations, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued a watered-down rebuke that amounted to less than a slap on the wrist.
“The decision has provided a solid legal foundation on which a rules-based approach for resolving disputes in the South China Sea can be built”, he told his peers in the region.
In 2012, Asean failed to issue a joint communique for the first time in the bloc’s history due to objection by Cambodia – a key ally of China – to diplomatic language on the South China Sea.
Such statements have previously been issued, notably after an ASEAN-U.S. summit in California in February, and have led to criticism that ASEAN is becoming a toothless organization.
REUTERS picChina’s foreign minister has asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following a ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month.
The communique did not mention the ill-founded award made by the ad hoc tribunal, over the South China Sea arbitration, unilaterally initiated by the Philippines.
But he also dismissed any notion that China would bow to pressure when it came to protecting its national sovereignty in the South China Sea.
Hours later, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported that its foreign minister, Wang Yi, was pleased with Cambodia’s position – the Southeast Asian country is reported to have been responsible for days of deadlock, after it objected to the Philippines request for the communique to include mention of the landmark legal ruling.
Taiwan and China both claim almost the entire sea, while Vietnam and the Philippines also have large claims.
“So far this year, relations between China and the United States have generally been stable, maintaining coordination and cooperation on bilateral, regional and worldwide level. All means. So you can count (international arbitration) but we attach importance to bilateral negotiations”, he said in the interview on the sidelines of a regional security meeting being hosted by Laos.
The joint communique was adopted shortly after the early morning gathering of foreign ministers and was published during the meeting with China’s Yi.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12 denied the legal basis for Beijing’s claim to almost all of the sea, parts of which are also claimed by neighbouring nations. China has rejected a recent global tribunal verdict that says its claim over the entire South China Sea, which it asserts on historical grounds, is illegal.
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In contrast, the direct language and coordinated nature of the trilateral statement from Australia, Japan and the United States is likely to further antagonise China which has already lashed out at the respective countries’ support of the Hague ruling.
