South China Sea: Asean deadlock after court ruling against China

Asian nations failed to agree on maritime disputes in the South China Sea on Sunday after Cambodia blocked any mention to an international court ruling against Beijing in their statement, diplomats said.

The gathering in the Laos capital is the first time regional players — including China and the United States — have met en masse since a UN-backed tribunal delivered a hammer blow to Beijing’s claim to vast stretches of the sea.

Philippines' Foreign Minister Perfecto (C) is mobbed by reporters as he leaves a meeting room during the ASEAN's 49th annual ministerial meeting in Vientiane on July 24, 2016. Picture: AFP.Source:AFP

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) boasts four countries who have competing claims with Beijing to parts of the sea, and is fiercely pided on the issue.

Rival claimants have accused China of deftly forging alliances with smaller member countries like Laos, this year’s host, and Cambodia through aid and loans to pide the once consensus-driven bloc.

Chinese pressure was blamed last month for a startling show of ASEAN discord when countries swiftly disavowed a joint statement released by Malaysia after an ASEAN-China meeting.

That statement had expressed alarm over Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea. Cambodia and Laos were later fingered as being behind moves to block it.

Those pisions were on stark display once more in Vientiane on Sunday as regional foreign ministers met for talks.

Chinese Foreing Minister Wang Yi speaks to reporters on the sideline ASEAN's 49th annual ministerial meeting in Vientiane on July 24, 2016. Picture: AFP.Source:AFP

Insiders accused Cambodia of scuppering moves to include a response to the tribunal ruling in a joint ASEAN communiqué — by the end of the first day of talks there was still no agreement.

“We need to put our house in order,” one diplomat involved in discussions told AFP on Sunday. “But we still have not agreed on anything.” Another ASEAN diplomat added: “We remain deadlocked. We’re back to the negotiating table.” The main sticking point was over whether to refer to the international tribunal ruling and if so how, a Southeast Asia diplomat told AFP.

Some countries are pushing to include a reference that urges all countries to fully “respect diplomatic and legal process”, he said — in line with statements released by the European Union, the US and Japan following the UN-backed decision.

Other countries are opposing any mention of the ruling.

Another diplomat said ministers would continue talks on Monday but warned that if a statement was published in the coming days it would likely be “really watered down”./.

( VNF/AFP )