This photo, taken on September 7, 2016, shows President Park Geun-hye (5th from L) and the leaders of China, Japan and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) pose for a photo during their summit in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.
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“We do not have internal interference from other countries and can not allow any countries to violate Cambodian integrity and territorial sovereignty”, he said, defending Cambodia’s request to keep the South China Sea off the table during a meeting of the Asean Interparliamentary Assembly.
China claims much of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. To press that point, it has conducted patrols near Chinese-held islands.
Jokowi said the regional architecture should help Asean reach the goals of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and East Asia Summit Bali Principles 2011 – peace, friendly relationship and co-operation among the people of Southeast Asia.
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.
China promised Cambodia funds for a variety of projects during a meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese Prime Minister Li Kequiang during this week’s Asean Summit in Vientiane, a minister attached to Mr. Hun Sen told reporters on Thursday night. Leaders from Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the United States also attended the summit.
He did not elaborate, but such wording is typically used by Chinese leaders to refer to not allowing countries from outside the region with no direct involvement in the dispute, like the United States, from getting involved. China claims virtually the entire sea as its own, citing historical reasons.
Some RCEP member countries, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei, are already part of the US-led trade initiative.
But, hours before the meeting, the Philippines’ Defense Ministry released photographs and a map showing what it said was an increased number of Chinese vessels near Scarborough Shoal, which China seized after a standoff in 2012. China said there had been no change in the situation around the shoal and it had not taken any new action there. China has refused to recognize the ruling by the court in The Hague.
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The US military has also expressed concern over the possibility that China might turn Panatag into another island, something that would give Beijing’s forces greater control over a swath of the South China Sea used as a passageway to the Taiwan Strait.
