Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was quoted by Xinhua on Wednesday as saying that relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have matured over the last 25 years, since the organization’s founding.
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The stand-off between China and the United States and her allies, including Australia, has intensified after Beijing flatly rejected arguments that it should respect global law and back down on its claims to the South China Sea. “We stressed the importance of the full and effective implementation of the DOC in its entirety”, read the document.
“Several leaders remained seriously concerned over recent developments in the South China Sea”, says the draft.
According to the draft chairman’s statement, seen by Kyodo News, ASEAN leaders are expected to “welcome” China’s vision of completing “the implementation of the code of conduct’s early harvest measures by the end of 2016” and “consultation on the COC outline in the first half of 2017 under circumstances without disturbances and to fast track COC consultation”.
ASEAN is also China’s third largest trading partner.
Broad agreements have been reached, including statements addressing accidental encounters between China and ASEAN members in the South China Sea.
“We will continue to work to ensure that disputes are resolved peacefully including in the South China Sea”, Obama said in his opening remarks at a meeting with leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
China claims much of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion worth of trade moves each year.
In recent months, Beijing has reacted angrily to United States freedom of navigation operations in the region, scrambling fighter jets and boats and denouncing the nation’s navies as “threatening Chinese sovereignty”.
But military skirmishes can not be ruled out if China does start to build an island, according to security analysts.
The two-way accumulative investment between China and ASEAN surpassed 130 billion US dollars by the end of 2014. “The reason is that the Philippines does not feel insecure even faced with China’s ‘threat.'” The times also claim Duterte was speaking “on behalf of developing countries” against the West, asserting, “he had had enough”. That has pitted it against the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, all members of ASEAN. China took control of Scarborough shoal in 2012 after a standoff with the Philippine navy.
China has rejected the ruling, which was filed by the Philippines in 2013.
However, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing that the country had done nothing to change the circumstances around the shoal. “We should be on high alert on why those people keep hyping issue and spreading rumours about it”.
The Philippines took its dispute with China to the worldwide tribunal some years ago, but the country’s new president, Rodrigo Duterte, who took office on June 30, has been more conciliatory toward China.
Beijing insists it has not started building at the shoal – a move that could lead to a military outpost just 230 kilometres from the main Philippine island, where United States forces are stationed.
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Laos and Cambodia already have friendly relations with China, the Philippines have finally realized that they need to negotiate with China, and Thailand is steadily shifting towards Beijing economically as well.
