Indonesia said Wednesday 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 Tuesday by Malaysia's foreign ministry, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) warned that recent 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.
But just hours later a Malaysian foreign ministry 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 foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told AFP.
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.
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