Cambodia denied it vetoed Philippine efforts to include a historic ruling on the South China Sea in a joint statement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after a recent meeting. Instead, he praised ASEAN for speaking up for “a rules-based worldwide system that protects the rights of all nations”.
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“The ministers expressed their strong support for the rule of law and called on China and the Philippines to abide by the Arbitral Tribunal’s Award of July 12 in the Philippines-China arbitration, which is final and legally binding on both parties”, the trilateral statement said.
Wang attended the 49th ASEAN foreign ministers’ meet in the Laos capital of Vientiane.
“The Joint Communiqué shows that Asean is committed to maintain regional peace, security and stability by respecting global law”, Retno said.
China has been successful at dividing ASEAN, making side offers to enough members to avoid the kind of unified statement that would have made for choppy diplomatic waters, after an worldwide court refuted China’s broad territorial claims. Cambodia is China’s closest ally within ASEAN, and have opposed unfriendly statements on the South China Sea before.
Wang Yi said the China-ASEAN meeting was held in an amicable and harmonious atmosphere.
Before flying to the Philippines, Kerry told reporters in Laos that the U.S.is supportive of the Philippines’ initial inclination to resume bilateral talks with China.
Bonnie Glaser, Director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and Internatonal Studies (CSIS), told VOA that Washington “has not excluded other forms of negotiations and has stressed that multilateral mechanisms should be employed as well, especially when bilateral talks prove fruitless”.
Zhou Fangyin, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said the meetings “set a tone” for ASEAN’s future South China Sea policies, and ASEAN’s not taking a position on the arbitration ruling “will be a restraint for Manila”. China, however, does not accept the tribunal’s authority over the matter and has rejected the ruling.
“(The ruling) has to be part of the calculation and I am confident that our friends in the Philippines will make their judgments about their negotiating position is and how to proceed forward”, Kerry said. “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.
Backing Yasay, who earlier Wednesday said the communiqué was a victory for ASEAN, Kerry said the statement opens up more possibilities for peaceful means such as negotiations among rival maritime claimants.
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However, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter recently announced that US troops and military equipment would be sent on regular rotations in the Philippines and that the two countries had started joint patrols in the South China Sea. “It’s happened before, it has happened in other forums, but it confirms the trend”, he said.
