Maritime disputes in South China Sea (SCS) was one of the major concerns raised on the second day of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Vientiane, Laos.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, meanwhile, reminded Asean of its long-standing ties and intertwined interests with China. There was no reference to a July ruling by a court in The Hague that declared illegal some of China’s artificial islands and invalidated its claims to nearly the entire waterway.
The government released the photos with a diagram showing the vessels’ exact locations at the shoal, which the Chinese coast guard seized after a tense standoff with Philippine vessels in 2012.
As the leaders met, the Philippine Defence Department released new surveillance photos of 10 ships ‘to announce that we are aware of any and all movements in the area, ‘ Philippine presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said.
“We reaffirmed the importance of peace and security in this region and reiterated support for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner”, the statement said.
China said there had been no change in the situation around the shoal and it had not taken any new action there.
“The situation concerning Huangyan Dao (Scarborough Shoal) is unchanged”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here, reacting to allegations by the Philippines.
China’s embassy in Manila said in a statement on Wednesday that there had been no dredging or building at the shoal.
“We could witness a physical confrontation between Chinese Coast Guard and Filipino vessels backed up by the US Navy”, Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at Australia’s University of New South Wales, told AFP. “There are no dredging or building activities there”.
The competing territorial claims have always been a major source of tension in the region, with China using deadly force twice to seize control of islands from Vietnam.
The 19th ASEAN-China Summit was held in Vientiane, Laos on September 7, with the South China Sea providing an undercurrent of tension throughout proceedings.
The United States and Japan have repeatedly urged China to respect the ruling.
But there was no row over the issue at the summit.
China and ASEAN members agreed at their meeting to set up hotlines between their foreign ministries to tackle maritime emergencies in the disputed sea, participants said.
Building on Scarborough, about 350 kilometers (218 miles) from Manila, would be particularly provocative because it would be a step toward China installing radar, aircraft and missiles that could reach the Philippine capital and nearby USA bases.
Ties turned frosty when new President Rodrigo Duterte insulted U.S. counterpart Barack Obama on Monday, prompting the cancellation of a meeting between them.
The Chinese leader said the peace and stability in the South ChinaSea is highly related to the prosperity and development of countries in the region.
The US, a treaty ally of the Philippines, has also been drawn into the dispute – prompting Washington to conduct so-called freedom of navigation exercises in waters near the artificial islands and fly aircraft over the territories.
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Expanding that presence with a military outpost is vital to achieving China’s ambitions of controlling the sea, security analysts said. It also rebuked China for forcibly preventing Filipinos from fishing in their traditional areas.
