Politics over Territory in ASEAN

Foreign Ministers of Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed serious concern on recent advance of China to South China Sea in their joint statement of the meeting held in Vientiane, Laos, on Monday. However, the statement did not refer to the conclusion of Hague Court of Arbitration, which found Chinese territorial claim on South China Sea baseless. It is too early to call the winner.

ASEAN became a stage of international politics in Asian region. Receiving firm protest against China from parties concerned, namely Philippine or Vietnam, the foreign ministers concluded to deliver a message to China. “We remain seriously concerned over recent and ongoing developments and took note of the concerns expressed by some Ministers on the land reclamations and escalation of activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region,” wrote them in the joint statement.

Hague Court of Arbitration concluded that Chinese development on the region was violating United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea earlier this month. The statement of ASEAN foreign ministers did not directly referred to it, as China wanted it to be. “We further reaffirmed the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities and avoid actions that may further complicate the situation, and pursue peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the statement only said.

As far as seeing whole structure of the statement, ASEAN looked to be negative on Chinese advance. The statement included independent paragraph on the issue of South China Sea. It noted importance of freedom of navigation and over-flight, indicating frustration of ASEAN on the unilateral behavior of China, bringing confusion in the region.

But, no mention on the decision of Hague Court meant that ASEAN released violator of international law to the field. “A page was turned after the deeply flawed ruling and it is the time to lower the temperature in the dispute,” told Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi. After aggressive lobbying to ASEAN nations including Cambodia, Laos, Brunei or Thai, China diluted accusation on Chinese development.

Having been making effort to include “Hague” in the statement, Japan was disappointed to the conclusion of ASEAN. Although Japanese Foreign Minister, Fumio Kishida, required Wang to accept decision of Hague Court in bilateral meeting in Vientiane, Wan simply rejected it. Both parties are focusing on next stage, ASEAN Regional Forum later this week.