The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ joint communique expressed serious concerns over land reclamation and “escalations of activities in the area”, but did not directly challenge China nor mention the ruling.
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Anifah’s name was in the official list of attendees released by host Laos, and the Malaysian government issued a statement on Friday saying Anifah will lead the Malaysian delegation in the series of meetings in Laos from Saturday to Tuesday.
In deference to China, Cambodia insisted that the Philippines and the rest of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) avoid any mention of an global legal ruling on the South China Sea in a joint statement that the bloc issued Monday. They also called on China to abide by the tribunal’s decision. China wants direct negotiations with the Philippines instead.
Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is also in Laos, making her debut at ASEAN meetings as the foreign minister for Myanmar. “And if the prescription is wrong it will not help cure any disease”.
“China greatly approves of Cambodia and other ASEAN countries taking charge of impartiality and safeguarding fairness”, Wang said.
Fishing vessels in the South China Sea.
“We believe that the temperature surrounding the arbitration case should be lowered and now regarding the South China Sea issue it’s time for all to come back to the right track”, Mr Wang told a news conference after China’s meeting with the Asean ministers.
“Certainly, Cambodia’s paralysis of Asean… hurts Asean’s unity, cohesion, relevance and reputation”, he said.
Analysts say this amounted to another capitulation by ASEAN in face of China’s power.
China is bitterly opposed to the arbitration panel’s decision and vowed to ignore it.
Speaking to reporters here in Laos’ capital after a meeting with ASEAN counterparts, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi dismissed the ruling and argued that China and ASEAN are responsible for maintaining peace in the region.
China has similar claims against other ASEAN nations, including Vietnam and Malaysia.
In 2012, Cambodia also blocked a reference to the territorial dispute. It did conclude that many of them are legally rocks, even if they’ve been built into islands, and therefore do not include the worldwide rights to develop the surrounding waters. ‘The whole discussion is connected not with the islands themselves, but with the shelf of the South and East China Seas, where there are oil and natural gas resources according to geological survey.
Foreign ministers of Southeast Asian countries began arriving at a convention center for an unscheduled last-ditch attempt to hammer a consensus on how to deal with China’s territorial expansion in the South China Sea.
Beijing/Seoul: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has criticised South Korea’s decision to deploy an advanced U.S. anti-missile defence system to counter threats from North Korea, saying it harmed the foundation of their trust.
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“Every country has the same position as China, that is that we should fully and effectively implement the regional Code of Conduct, and in that COC it clearly states the dispute should be resolved by peaceful, sit-down talks between the parties directly concerned”, he said.
