On Thursday, US President Barack Obama, speaking at the ASEAN summit, said that the arbitration ruling was legally binding and called for maritime disputes to be resolved peacefully.
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Obama, whose foreign policy focus has been widely seen as a response to China’s economic and military muscle-flexing across the region, said critics at home were wrong to say it had failed when Asian leaders only wanted more.
The comments are sure to draw ire from Beijing, which has taken an increasingly belligerent stance on claims in the strategically important waterway.
The Philippines filed the arbitration case against China in January 2013 to seek clarification of its maritime entitlements in the South China Sea under the 1982 convention, following China’s aggressive assertion of its claims there.
During the EAS, Obama and Abe coordinated with other leaders on efforts to advance a rules-based order in East Asia in the face of China’s construction and militarization of island outposts in the South China Sea.
China has proceeded with an aggressive program of land reclamation on disputed islands and reefs in the sea, on which it has also been building military facilities.
China insists it has sovereign rights to most of the sea – through which $5 trillion in global shipping trade passes annually – even waters close to Southeast Asian nations.
Countries in Southeast Asia have realized that the key to solving the South China Sea issue should be in their own hands and they should return to seeking complete and effective implementation of the DOC and solving the issue through dialogue and consultation.
He said the two countries were also looking into setting up a hotline to tackle emergencies in the disputed South China Sea.
Though Beijing recently announced a $600 million aid package to ally Cambodia, China was unable to get it to block the statement, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss diplomatic discussions.
Closing out his final presidential trip to Asia, Obama said his meetings with foreign leaders during stops in China and Laos had illustrated that governing is “serious business” requiring knowledge, preparation and thought-out policies that can actually be implemented.
In an encouraging move, ASEAN and China agreed afresh to start talks on developing a code of conduct for peaceful resolutions of territorial disputes in the region.
Referring to man-made islands built by China, Abe expressed hope that China will “make good on its leader’s statement that it will not militarize them”.
“Our position on the situation in the South China Sea remains unchanged”, Morgulov said. Those tensions are most heated with the Philippines and Vietnam, but also include Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia.
President Barack Obama says the US wants to work constructively with Southeast Asian nations to lower tensions with China in the South China Sea.
Philippine Communications Secretary Martin Andanar made these remarks on Wednesday, September 7, as he recounted the so-called “handshake meeting” between Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
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It was, at best, a respite in long-running tensions between China and its Southeast Asian neighbours and the ruling has become a new starting point for China’s rival claimants to move forward, analysts said.
