However, Li is believed to have repeated China’s position that maritime disputes in the South China Sea with other claimants, namely, Taiwan and four ASEAN members – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – should be resolved bilaterally, not multilaterally, and without the interference of non-claimant countries such as the United States and Japan.
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The draft statement, a copy of which was obtained by Kyodo News, says, “Several leaders remained seriously concerned over recent developments in the South China Sea”, a veiled criticism of Beijing’s muscle-flexing in asserting territorial claims in disputed waters.
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.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, shakes hands with Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte, right, as Laos’ Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, watches during the 19th ASEAN-China summit, in Vientiane, Laos, Wednesday, Se.
Obama’s remarks came at the end of a grueling nine-day trip that took him to Laos and China following USA stops in Nevada, Hawaii and Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
The global tribunal in The Hague ruled in July that China’s claims to the South China Sea had no legal or historical basis.
The Philippines military this week released images of Chinese ships it said were capable of dredging sand around the Scarborough Shoal – a small but strategic reef and fertile fishing ground 130 miles (200 km) west from the Philippine island of Luzon. That has pitted it against the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, all members of ASEAN.
China claims almost all of the sea, through which $5 trillion in shipping trade passes annually, even waters approaching the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.
The ASEAN leaders emphasised the importance of non-militarisation and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities, including land reclamation that could further complicate the situation and escalate tensions in the East Sea.
Cambodia largely remains in China’s camp, as does Laos, preventing any robust statement from the consensus-bound ASEAN group.
“China was vigorously asking to begin with the Code of Conduct as well as Singapore, and our president of the Philippines – President Duterte – also expressed his approval of having this framework of Code of Conduct initiated”, Filipino presidential communications secretary Martin Andanar said during a press briefing on Wednesday. A reclaimed island at Scarborough Shoal could provide China a military base close to the Philippines’ main island of Luzon. Instead, Cambodia opposed including an explicit mention of the United Nations tribunal’s ruling, the official said.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said all the countries, including China, had given their commitment to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the adoption of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea in the South China Sea (COC) which would be summarised next year.
Predictably, China said it would not respect the ruling it has previously described as waste paper.
Duterte wants China to abide by the ruling and stuck to his promise not to raise the issue during the meeting in Laos.
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He said he was committed to advancing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) multinational trade agreement, and expressed grave concerns over recent ballistic missile tests by North Korea.
