A J-10AY of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) fighter aircraft and crew are on alert at Chengdu airbase.
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Wang said the closed-door meeting, which was first proposed by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, was timely, significant and involved strategic communication. China has previously stated that it would not abide by the ruling.
The Philippines also said Thursday that there had originally been unanimous support within ASEAN for the strongly worded statement.
ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei, as well as Taiwan, have competing claims to parts of the sea.
Until now, Asean has avoided citing China by name when calling for a lowering of tensions.
Its reference to the use of “friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned”, underscores China’s insistence that bilateral negotiations are the only way forward, something critics call a transparent attempt to divide the disputants and keep the dispute off the agenda of multilateral mechanisms.
However, several analysts claim that the initial statement was just too critical of China and therefore had to be withdrawn.
Although the ASEAN foreign ministers said in the statement that the 10-member association wants to develop its ties with China, they “cannot ignore what is happening in the South China Sea as it is an important issue in the relations and cooperation” between them. An amended statement has not been released.
Asked whether China had objected to the statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang did not answer directly, but said Beijing had been assured that it was not an official ASEAN document and had been retracted.
“It would be a violation of diplomatic protocol to issue [a joint statement] unless it’s ready”, Thitinan explained.
The retracted statement described “a candid exchange”-language that hinted at a diplomatic confrontation-between the bloc’s foreign ministers and their Chinese counterpart”.
“There is more cooperation than disagreement in the China-Asean relationship, and more opportunities than challenges, more unity than friction”, Wang was quoted as saying.
Indonesia said on Wednesday the release – titled “Media statement by the ASEAN foreign ministers” – was issued by mistake, and that it was only meant to be a “media guideline”. “So by the time it was released, there was agreement”.
While noting the momentum and new phase of consultations, they urged for the early adoption of an effective Code of Conduct, including through increasing the frequency of the Asean-China Senior Officials’ Meeting and Joint Working Group Meetings on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. “Western media’s insane thoughts”. It’s a combustible mix, only heightened by an expected decision in the coming weeks from a United Nations tribunal that could well undercut China’s claims over more than 80% of the contested waters. Beijing has instead aggressively courted support from predominantly economically dependent countries in the Middle East and Africa, and said last month 40 countries support its stance so far, including Afghanistan, Sudan and Vanuatu. The tensions go to the heart of a strategic rivalry between the USA, overseer of the region’s security network for decades, and a rising China intent on becoming the region’s dominant power.
The events have been widely seen as another example of ASEAN’s inability to present a united front toward China as the latter dramatically expands its presence in the waterway.
China’s noncompliance is also damaging to UNCLOS itself, since it could discourage compliance with other features of the convention, particularly its establishment of 200-nautical mile (370-kilometer) exclusive economic zones, said James Kraska, a professor of oceans law and policy at the U.S. Naval War College. Both Asean and China have struggled to settle the disputes despite both parties’ pledges to strive for a peaceful resolution. China is the largest trading partner for the grouping, which is chaired this year by the small country of Laos.
“We don’t understand why the USA has been so active in backing the arbitration behind the scene”, said Liu, the vice foreign minister.
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China has always been clear about its ambitions and it’s to turn the South China Sea its territory. China had warned nations beforehand to not mention the territorial spats.
