Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (9th R) attends the 11th East Asia Summit in Vientiane, Laos, Sept. 8, 2016.
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Ties turned frosty when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte insulted US counterpart Barack Obama on Monday, prompting the cancellation of a meeting between them.
But other leaders apparently played down tensions over the South China Sea in a carefully worded draft statement.
Referring to man-made islands built by China, Abe expressed hope that China will “make good on its leader’s statement that it will not militarize them”.
Countries in Southeast Asia have realized that the key to solving the South China Sea issue should be in their own hands and they should return to seeking complete and effective implementation of the DOC and solving the issue through dialogue and consultation.
“Chinavalues President Putin’s position on the South ChinaSea issue”, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said today. In addition to Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have contesting claims on these waters.
Obama assured ASEAN leaders that the United States would continue to help ensure the peaceful resolution of their territorial disputes.
The issue of ownership of territories in the South China Sea has come to dominate ASEAN summits in recent years.
With the dispute overshadowing the East and South-East Asian summits, Mr Obama used his last formal event in the region as US President to ask China to abide by the rule of law and not act unilaterally.
Other ASEAN members include Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.
“There is recognition of the importance of the global arbitrational ruling in July, which is legal and binding and which clarified maritime claims by the Philippines and China in the South China Sea”, Obama said during a press conference at the end of the ASEAN Summit in Laos on Thursday.
Tension first flared at the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 when China effectively evicted Filipino fishermen from the area.
However, intensive Chinese lobbying helped to ensure there was no mention of the July ruling in the ASEAN statement.
However, before the Asean-China Summit, the Philippines’ Defence Ministry released photographs and a map that it said showed more Chinese ships near the contested Scarborough Shoal, raising fears reclamation works would also be conducted there.
The Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in July focused on the establishment of an emergency communications link with China to avoid accidental military conflict.
Irrespective of the results of the conferences, China, which didn’t even take part in the tribunal process in the Netherlands, should face up to the importance of the ruling, which totally invalidated Beijing’s territorial claims.
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The Philippines is concerned that China may plan to turn the shoal into another man-made island. “We should be highly alert against the mischief-making intentions of people who spread such groundless information in such situations”.
