He pointed out that ASEAN, as a whole, did not make comments or take sides on the arbitration, and it expressed support for China and the Philippines to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation.
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Speaking to reporters in Vientiane, Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said the dispute was not a fight between China and the United States but between China and the Philippines.
But ASEAN became divided because of China’s divide-and-rule diplomacy by winning support from Cambodia, and to some extent Laos, which resulted in the grouping issuing the bland joint statement.
On Monday (25/07), at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Laos (where the foreign ministers of ASEAN members met for the first time since the tribunal’s ruling on 12 July 2016) there was no direct criticism on China’s claims in the South China Sea, even though Chinese fishermen and army units have been undermining the territorial sovereignty of several of ASEAN’s member nations, while such criticism can now be backed by the global ruling in early July. The tribunal’s award “amounts to prescribing a dose of wrong medicine… That’s why we urge other countries in the region to lower the temperature”, he told a news conference after 90 minutes of talks with the bloc’s ministers.
VIENTIANE-Japan has urged China to accept the landmark global court ruling that dismissed its territorial claims in the South China Sea, but the suggestion did not sit well with an angry Beijing. Cambodia, an ally of China as it receives generous aid packages and loans from the world’s second-largest economy, is considered the main obstacle to the issuance of a joint statement that criticizes China’s territorial claims.
U.S. secretary of state John Kerry says the United States has no position in China’s disputes with Southeast Asian nations in South China Sea, but only wants all parties to follow the rule of law and settle their differences peacefully.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) shakes hands with Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) during the ASEAN meeting in Vientiane on Monday. He wrapped up his brief public remarks to that meeting by noting “how much can be accomplished when we work together, invest in the future, and perhaps most importantly support the rules-based system that has led to steadily increased peace and prosperity for almost 50 years now”. The global community, including the United States, sees the ruling as legally binding and a matter of law, he added. Their meeting took place as President Barack Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice was visiting Beijing to cover some of the same issues.
In a separate meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, on Monday, Wang said Japan, which is not a claimant in the South China Sea disputes, should avoid interfering in and hyping up the maritime spats.
In a joint communique released after their talks, the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN said only that they “remain seriously concerned over recent and ongoing developments” in the South China Sea.
“The ministers stressed that this is a crucial opportunity for the region to uphold the existing rules-based worldwide order and to show respect for global law”, they said in one of the strongest and most detailed post-arbitration warnings by the allies against China.
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Information for this article was contributed by Jim Gomez, Matthew Lee and Gillian Wong of The Associated Press.
