Japan and the USA continued building pressure on China to abide by a recent worldwide tribunal ruling rejecting its claims in the South China Sea, even as Beijing persuaded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to exclude any mention of the decision from a ministerial communique Monday.
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In a ruling by the United Nations -backed Permanent Court of Arbitration on July 12, the Philippines won an emphatic legal victory over China on the dispute.
The contested sea, through which about US$5 trillion in shipping passes annually, has been a source of increasing tension between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors, along with the US. Beijing refused to participate in the proceedings brought by the Philippines. The tribunal, set up under the United Nations convention on the law of the seas (UNCLOS), ruled China’s definition of its maritime territory in the sea as illegal.
Despite Cambodia’s efforts to keep the feuds over the South China Sea off the agenda for the ASEAN meetings, Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. praised a recent worldwide arbitration decision on the disputes, but stopped short of calling for Chinese compliance with the landmark ruling.
“India, as a state party to the UNCLOS, urges all parties to show utmost respect for the UNCLOS, which is the foundation of the worldwide legal order of the seas and oceans”, Singh said in his closing statement at the meeting with the Asean ministers.
“It seems like certain countries from outside the region have got all worked up keeping the fever high”, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters.
The group has given itself until Tuesday to come to issue a statement, said one ASEAN diplomat.
“It’s unmistakable and unambiguous.no one is in any doubt it’s what we’re referring to”, said Dr Balakrishnan. They chose to meet again on Monday morning ahead of their scheduled meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
The increasing strength of U.S. -Laos relations was the central focus Monday as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith noted engagement on a wide range of issues, including health, the environment, education, trade and investment on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ASEAN) in Ventiane, Laos. Kerry and Wang are also expected to meet and discuss the maritime issues.
It was “not a China-ASEAN issue”, he said, adding that disputes should be resolved among the parties involved.
It is not yet clear whether he will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who is also attending.
In the face of continued North Korean provocation, the United States spearheaded the drafting of a new UN resolution adopted unanimously in March by Security Council members, including China – North Korea’s main diplomatic protector and economic benefactor. Xi told Rice: China remains “strongly committed” to building good relations based upon the ideas of “no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation”.
China and ASEAN agree to peacefully resolve South China Sea maritime issues.
“Japan is not a concerned party in the South China Sea, and because of its disgraceful history is in no place to make irresponsible comments about China”.
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BEIJING-China has set up a 15 million yuan ($2.25 million or 239 million yen) environmental protection fund for the South China Sea, having already spent double that in the past four years, the Xinhua state news agency said on Monday.
