Indonesia said yesterday that a bold statement from Southeast Asian nations raising concern over Beijing’s island-building in the South China Sea was issued in error, as a meeting over the issue ended in confusion.
In a statement released late on Tuesday by the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ASEAN warned that actions in the disputed waterway had “the potential to undermine peace.”
The statement described “a candid exchange” — language that hinted at a diplomatic confrontation — between the bloc’s foreign ministers and their Chinese counterpart at a meeting in Kunming, China.
However, just a few hours later a Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said the ASEAN secretariat had retracted the statement headlined: “Media statement by the ASEAN foreign ministers,” pending “urgent amendments.”
The text released by Malaysia was merely a “media guideline” for ASEAN ministers to refer to at a post-meeting press conference and not an agreed final statement, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said.
Analysts gave various theories, with one saying ASEAN had backtracked after coming under pressure from China, while another said Malaysia appeared to have released the statement prematurely by mistake.
Either way, the disarray was another example of the bloc’s perennial inability to present a united front toward China, which observers say has allowed Beijing to expand its sway over much of the South China Sea, despite overlapping claims.
ASEAN members the Philippines and Vietnam have come into direct confrontation with China over territorial disputes, while non-claimants such as Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar have maintained closer ties with Beijing. Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei have generally walked a delicate line somewhere in the middle.
Nasir said the meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers and China had run over schedule, meaning that “the press conference was canceled and a number of ASEAN foreign ministers had to leave immediately.”
“The ASEAN foreign ministers did not have a chance to discuss how they would release the content of the media guideline to the media,” he said.
Malaysian officials could not be reached for comment, but the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta said no official statement was issued after the meeting.
Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asian political analyst at Turkey’s Ipek University, said the affair seemed to stem from a Malaysian misstep.
She said ASEAN nations, several of which are highly dependent on smooth trade relations with China, have been wary of commenting on the South China Sea issue ahead of a UN tribunal’s imminent ruling in a case brought by the Philippines against China.
China does not recognize the arbitration and has reacted angrily to Manila’s pursuit of legal action over the Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島).
“I think they [ASEAN] want to wait until the arbitration decision comes out before making any sort of clear joint statement as a group,” Welsh said.
However, Southeast Asia expert Carl Thayer said that China appeared to have reacted to reports about the statement.
“China obviously objected to the wording of the joint statement,” said Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
“This led to the ASEAN secretariat’s decision to rescind the earlier release,” he said.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea and has bolstered its claim by building artificial islands and airstrips, some of which are suitable for military use.
In 2012, an annual meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers ended in chaos and unprecedented rancor, with the Philippines accusing hosts Cambodia of blocking a strong statement accusing China of raising tensions in the region.
The gathering ended with no joint ministers’ communique for the first time in the bloc’s 45-year history.
However, ASEAN has since hardened its language amid the Chinese island-building, while taking pains not to mention China by name.
ASEAN operates on a policy of consensus under which all members must agree to any joint statement.
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