Southeast Asian foreign ministers met with their Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Monday (July 25) in an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China ministerial meeting in the Laotian capital.
The meeting was the first since the U.N.-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration handed an emphatic legal victory to the Philippines in the dispute this month.
The ruling by the court in The Hague denied China’s sweeping claims in the strategic seaway, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes each year.
China claims most of the waterway, but ASEAN members – the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei – all have rival claims. Beijing says the ruling has no bearing on its rights in the sea, and described the case as a farce.
Southeast Asian nations failed to agree on maritime disputes in the South China Sea on Sunday (July 24) after Cambodia blocked any mention to an international court ruling against Beijing in their statement, diplomats said.
The Philippines and Vietnam both wanted the communique issued by ASEAN foreign ministers after their meeting on Sunday (July 24) to refer to the ruling and the need to respect international law, ASEAN diplomats have said. Their foreign ministers both discussed the ruling with ASEAN counterparts.
But before Sunday’s meeting, China’s closest ASEAN ally Cambodia opposed the proposed wording, throwing the group into disarray. Phnom Penh supports Beijing’s opposition to any ASEAN stand on the South China Sea, and its preference for dealing with the disputed claims on a bilateral basis.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016
