Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte skipped meetings at the summit Thursday because of a migraine, his spokesman said.
Advertisement
(Philippine Government via AP).
An global tribunal ruled in July that Beijing’s claims to almost all of the sea had no legal basis, and its artificial island-building activities were illegal.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte pose for photo during the ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Vientiane, Laos September 7, 2016. “Asean is key to the USA rebalance to Asia and more importantly, it’s key to a peaceful and prosperous future for the world”.
Officials said talks between Southeast Asian leaders and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang went smoothly. The final version was not immediately released.
Beijing has conducted massive reclamation and construction works in the South China Sea, sparking fears of militarisation in the region.
“I have said before and I will say again failure to move ahead with TPP. will call into question America’s leadership”, Obama said in Laos.
China shot back with comments aimed at the US.
The president pointed to discussions with Southeast Asian leaders about maritime disputes in the South China Sea and suggested progress had been made in clarifying the path ahead to lower tensions between China and the Philippines.
“If we are not here interacting and learning from you, and understanding the culture of the region, then we will be left behind”, he said. “In some sense they are being self-isolated”.
“We reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation in and over-flight in the South China Sea”, the draft of its post-summit statement said.
In this meeting, Duterte urged ASEAN and China to “be on the side of peace”, Andanar said.
Beijing has come in for criticism in recent times for converting small islands in the region into areas capable of handling military aircraft.
ASEAN will hold a separate summit later Thursday with other world powers, including China and the US.
The use of the phrase “some leaders” in the two statements underscores the fundamental problem ASEAN and the wider East Asia Summit has in dealing with China – not all its members are willing to scold Beijing.
ASEAN works by consensus, and China has successfully pressured Cambodia and Laos in recent years to ensure the bloc does not gang together to heavily pressure Beijing.
Since then, the US has been stating that China should uphold the tribunal’s verdict. Two or more countries are said to have touched on the court of arbitration ruling during the meeting.
With joint efforts from China and Asean members, the situation in the South China Sea was moving in a positive direction, Li added.
China claims much of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually.
Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all have conflicting claims over territory in the region.
Advertisement
China, however, refused to accept the tribunal’s ruling and insisted that they have indisputable sovereignty in the disputed waters.
