VIENTIANE, July 22 (Xinhua) -- A former Lao diplomat said on Friday that the South China Sea issue would not impede the further development of relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"The South China Sea arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines is just an episode of the ASEAN-China cooperation," Soukthavy Keola, a former counselor at the Lao Embassy in China, told Xinhua ahead of an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting set to open on Sunday.
An ad hoc tribunal handling the South China Sea arbitration issued an award on July 12, sweepingly siding with Manila's cunningly packaged claims. China has dismissed the biased ruling as "null and void with no binding force."
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