A U.S. official accused China and Russia of blocking a joint declaration at the recent East Asia Summit in Laos over a sub-clause on the South China Sea but Moscow said it was Washington’s fault.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, regards the principle of consensus as one of its key ways of operating but maritime disputes have become a point of contention as China – the most powerful claimant in the South China Sea – expands its clout across the region.
The East Asia Summit, held last Friday in Vientiane, comprised the 10 ASEAN nations and eight dialogue partners including the U.S., China, Russia, India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
An unnamed U.S. official told the Reuters news agency that the final draft of the joint declaration was vetoed by China and Russia, who said they "could not and would not proceed with a statement."
All other partners said they would support the text, the official said.
The key contentious issue that led Beijing and Moscow to reject the draft text, according to the official, was an extra sub-clause, which noted a 2023 U.N. resolution saying that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, "sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out."
The resolution also reaffirmed “the importance of the work of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.”
Different stances
In 2016, an arbitral tribunal constituted under UNCLOS in a case brought by the Philippines rejected nearly all of China’s claims in the South China Sea.
Beijing, which insists it has “historical rights” over most of the sea, has so far refused to accept the ruling.
China has not commented on claims it blocked the summit’s joint statement.
Russia, meanwhile, said it was not adopted because of persistent attempts by the U.S. and its allies “to turn it into a purely political statement.”
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news briefing that East Asia summits should prevent "the saturation of declarations with confrontational geopolitical narratives."
“In fact, everything they do is aimed at containing Russia and China,” Lavrov said of Washington and its allies.
Moscow’s top diplomat added that the South China Sea issue was already raised in separate participants’ statements.
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Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the same East Asia Summit reiterated China’s claims but said that Beijing supports an early conclusion of a Code of Conduct for all parties in the South China Sea dispute.
For years, ASEAN and China have been negotiating the code but still seem far from reaching an agreement.
In 2012, for the first time in ASEAN’s 45-year history, the bloc failed to adopt a joint communique at an annual foreign ministers’ meeting also because of disagreements over South China Sea disputes with China.
Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.