By Pia Lee-Brago
MANILA, Philippines - While Southeast Asian leaders are expected to express “serious concern” over recent developments in the South China Sea during their summit on Saturday, they are likely to avoid directly criticizing China’s “escalation of activities” including its building of island fortresses in disputed waters.
This was evident in the draft of the chairman’s statement for the 30th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, which mentioned nothing about China’s island-building activities or the ruling of a UN-backed arbitral court invalidating the Asian power’s expansive maritime claims.
The statement would be a watered-down version of the one issued last year and comes amid a charm offensive by President Duterte – who takes the rotating ASEAN chair this year – to court China for its business and avoid rows over sovereignty in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea.
In the draft statement, the leaders reaffirmed the importance of enhancing mutual trust and confidence, exercising self-restraint in the conduct of activities, avoiding actions that may further complicate the situation, and pursuing peaceful resolution of disputes, including through full respect for legal and diplomatic processes without resorting to threat or use of force, in accordance with the universally recognized principles of international law such as the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
They also reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation in and over-flight over the South China Sea.
For former foreign affairs chief Albert del Rosario, the draft chairman’s statement was a big disappointment. “The draft of the Chairman’s Statement is deeply disappointing and, if not revisited, would manifest an absence of the desired leadership,” he said.
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