Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (9th R) attends the 11th East Asia Summit in Vientiane, Laos, Sept. 8, 2016.
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The ruling by the arbitral tribunal in The Hague effectively invalidated what China calls its historical rights over most of the sea, and further admonished it for conducting vast reclamation work in contested waters to bolster its claims.
China and ASEAN countries have made positive efforts in implementing DOC and the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC), he said, noting that before the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in July 2017, the two sides will complete drafting a COC framework so as to let consultations enter a substantive discussion phase.
In his speech, Li lauded the role of the East Asia Summit in advancing understanding and mutual trust of all parties and promoting regional stability and prosperity in East Asia, which he described as a land “far from conflicts and a bonanza for trade and investment”.
To maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, it is essential for the worldwide community as a whole to share with Japan and the United States an awareness of the issues and apply continued pressure on China.
On Thursday, Liu said that “it is not appropriate for some countries outside the region to push the so-called South China Sea “arbitration” at the East Asia Summit”.
Since then, the USA has been stating that China should uphold the tribunal’s verdict. “We stressed the importance for the parties concerned to resolve their disputes by peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognized principles of global laws”, it said. Cambodia, for example, remains firmly in China’s camp, as is Laos to a large extent, preventing any robust statement from the consensus-bound ASEAN group.
Meanwhile, a Xinhua news agency commentary yesterday called Mr Obama’s United States rebalance to Asia a “narrow-minded scheme orchestrated to maintain his country’s hegemony and corrosive to the region’s peace and stability”.
China’s claim that it has historical rights to most of the South China Sea is unacceptable under global rules. That has pitted it against the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, all members of ASEAN, which have overlapping claims.
The Philippines, which filed the arbitration case against China that yielded the ruling in July at a tribunal at The Hague, failed to mention the matter during a high-profile meeting on Thursday.
The Chinese ships were at Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), a small fishing ground within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone that China took control of in 2012.
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”.
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Some countries outside the region, displaying a Cold War mentality, have attempted to meddle in issues in the region, breaking the original regional balance and sowing discord between China and ASEAN members in recent years.
