The chairman’s statement to be issued after a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Laos this week will avoid any mention of the landmark July ruling by an international tribunal that rejected China’s vast claims to most of the South China Sea, an ASEAN source said Sunday.
Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations instead limit themselves to reiterating their concerns over developments in the disputed sea without mentioning China by name, according to the source.
“We remain seriously concerned over recent and ongoing developments and took note of the concerns expressed by some leaders on the land reclamations and escalation of activities in the area,” according to a draft of the chairman’s statement penned by China-leaning Laos, this year’s chair of the grouping.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled on July 12 that China’s claims to economic rights across large swathes of the South China, which overlap with those of the Philippines and other neighboring countries, have no legal basis. China has rejected the ruling as “a piece of wastepaper” and insisted that disputes in the resource-rich body of water must be addressed by claimants through bilateral negotiations.
Echoing the statements of previous summits, the draft notes the importance of full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea signed by China and ASEAN in 2002 and the early conclusion of ongoing talks on the framework of a legally binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
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