Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that the “page of the South China Sea arbitration has been turned over”.
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He said that “we are pleased by the joint communique” achieved on Monday in the meeting between ASEAN member states and China, which renewed commitment to managing the disputes. “And it seems that certain countries outside the region have got all worked up, keeping the fever high”, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, referring to the United States.
“Common ground for any effective negotiation to be based on is still lacking”, Xie said, though China was not likely to reclaim land at Scarborough Shoal contested by the Philippines soon, he added.
If an agreement can not be reached, this will mark only the second time in ASEAN’s 49-year-history that it has deadlocked over issuing a statement, and the previous incident, in 2012, also involved Cambodia blocking a statement on the South China Sea.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague handed an emphatic legal victory to the Philippines in the maritime dispute earlier this month, denying China’s sweeping claims in the strategic seaway.
The statement, tellingly, went further than a cautious joint statement produced by then 10 ASEAN member nations, meeting for the first time after the July 12 arbitration which came down overwhelmingly in favour of the Philippines, and against China.
China and Vietnam have had long-running territorial disputes in the Spratly Islands and the Paracels in the South China Sea.
Most importantly, the statement fails to mention the recent ruling against China’s claim over more than 80% of the South China Sea, and provides Beijing with enough wiggle room to continue on its present course in the region.
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually.
After a meeting with the foreign ministers of Japan and Australia, the three countries issued a statement in which they called on China and the Philippines to abide by the court ruling “which is final and legally binding on both parties”.
The Philippines had not sought support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or the worldwide community in its arbitration case against Beijing over the South China Sea, and did not want to press the issue and risk dividing the group or provoking China, Perfecto Yasay said. “We simply asked them to recognize that the action we took in peacefully resolving our dispute with China was done in accordance with the principles of global law and under the provisions of UNCLOS”.
Since he took office on June 30, police have reported over 200 deaths while media tallies have said more than 300 have died, including suspected extrajudicial killings.
Yasay also said he wanted China to take a position so that dialogue could happen but did not say whether the Philippines would insist that the arbitration ruling be discussed. “Now is the time we will test whether you are protectors of peace or agitators”.
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China has been rapidly developing reefs and rocky outcrops into islands in the South China Sea, including building air strips capable of landing military aircraft.
