“The Philippines released images today claiming to show Chinese ships preparing to build an artificial island on Scarborough Shoal, hours before leaders of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Laos”.
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China has also been criticised for its massive reclamation work on contested reefs in the South China Sea where it has placed military installations.
The statement will also emphasise the importance of maintaining peace in the South China Sea, the other major regional flashpoint.
The Chinese leader said the peace and stability in the South China Sea is highly related to the prosperity and development of countries in the region.
An arbitration court in the Hague in July invalidated China’s claims to the waterway after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling that Beijing refuses to recognize.
Japan has already provided six patrol ships to Vietnam, but they were all used ones, a Japanese foreign ministry official said, adding that details such as the timing of the delivery and the number of ships to be provided have yet to be fixed.
The Philippines released photographs of 10 Chinese ships around Panatag Shoal ahead of the meeting but presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the issue was not discussed.
United States officials fear any Chinese military airfield at the shoal would enable Beijing to enforce a threatened air defence identification zone in the sea.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, too, is attending the meeting as his country is part of the ASEAN.
The Philippines’ move came after a dispute with the United States, its former colonial power.
As regards the July 12 ruling of the arbitral tribunal, Andanar said there were also no categorical statements made for China to comply with the ruling.
“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.
The statement said at the 28th and 29th summits, held in Laos’s Vientiane, the regional leaders had constructive and cordial discussions to craft the future direction for ASEAN, mentioning an array of issues from economy-society, politics and security, community building, to internal and external relations.
According to Mr Lee’s press secretary Chang Li Lin, the Prime Minister highlighted the broad- based cooperation Asean has with Japan, covering areas such as disaster management, maritime security, education and tourism.
The ASEAN leaders emphasised the importance of non-militarisation and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities, including land reclamation that could further complicate the situation and escalate tensions in the East Sea.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly said he does not want to pressure China, his most important ally, over the issue.
Obama cancelled a meeting with Duterte scheduled for Tuesday because of the outburst.
“In the past 30 years, the relationship has been very smooth, it’s only in the past few years, because of some problems known to all, the relationship has been affected”, Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said at the summit.
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Duterte launched a tirade against Obama on Monday after being told the U.S. president planned to raise concerns about a war on crime in the Philippines that has claimed 3,000 lives in just over two months.
