This was the reason Susan Rice had made a decision to simmer down tensions with China rather than flaring them over South China Sea issue.
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“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”, Yasay said he told his ASEAN counterparts, adding the ruling- that says China’s claim over the entire South China Sea, is illegal – is “final and binding to all parties concerned, is a clearly established fact” and that it has “significant implications for the entire region, not just the coastal states bordering the South China Sea”.
The deadlock is over whether ASEAN, in their traditional joint statement, should chastise China for claiming the entire South China Sea, which infringes on territorial claims of four member nations – the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
Non-claimants want the South China Sea to remain as worldwide waters, with the United States conducting “freedom of navigation” operations.
Barack Obama is set in September to become the first USA president to visit Laos, attending an annual summit hosted by the country that holds the ASEAN chairmanship.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumiko Kishida are also due to hold talks on the sidelines of Asean.
Asserting that Beijing supports the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in playing a central role in regional cooperation, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said the country opposes outside intervention in regional affairs, especially from the big powers.
China has dismiss the ill-founded award issued by an ad hoc tribunal over the arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines as “null and void with no binding force”.
Satellite images reveal the new-generation missiles were removed from Woody Island before the global Permanent Court of Arbitration’s decision on July 12 to reject Beijing’s claims over the South China Sea. Laos, which has assumed the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN this year, is a staunch China ally and is unlikely to allow an open slap by other regional colleagues on a trusted friend.
But Kerry will urge ASEAN nations to explore diplomatic ways to ease tension over Asia’s biggest potential military flashpoint, a senior USA official said ahead of his trip. The arbitration panel didn’t take a position on who owns the disputed territories.
Ms Retno’s remarks yesterday raised fears that the South China Sea issue may derail the communique as it did in Phnom Penh in 2012.
To ease tensions, China, the Philippines and possibly other claimants must define what the ruling means for fishing, offshore oil and gas exploration, and military and other activities in the vast body of water that lies between the southern Chinese coast and the Philippine archipelago.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) promised to continue efforts to advance peace, stability and development in the region as their foreign ministers gathered in Laos for regional meetings on Sunday. In recent days, its military has staged live-firing exercises in the area and said it would begin regular aerial patrols over the sea.
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China is ASEAN’s largest trading partner.
